Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Craigmillar Park Open success won't
change Craig Elliot's plans

FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Craig Elliot may have got off to a flying start in the race for the Scottish Order of Merit title but don't expect to see his name in the No.1 spot at the end of the season.
Not because he isn't good enough to be crowned as Scotland's top amateur. If he put his mind to it, the 36-year-old Carrickvale star could easily give the likes of Callum Macaulay, Wallace Booth and Scott Henry a run for their money.


But, as he reflected on his superb victory in the first of the counting events, last weekend's Craigmillar Park Open, Elliot (Cal Carson Golf Agency image left) revealed he won't be changing his plans for the season on the back of that triumph.



"I'm not going to be travelling all over the country to play in the rest of the counting events," he said. "For starters, I'm not fit enough for that and I only managed to get through the final two rounds at Craigmillar Park as I had my dad caddying for me."



Elliot, who works for his father in the family's electrical company in the Capital, had twice come close to claiming the Craigmillar Park title in the past, finishing second and third. But, after playing very little golf in the opening three months of the year, even he was a touch surprised after adding his name to a roll of honour alongside the likes of Nick Faldo, Andrew Oldcorn, Marc Warren and Lloyd Saltman.



"Apart from a couple of Winter League matches, I had only played the odd nine holes here and there with some friends, so I didn't really know what to expect last weekend," he remarked.



"As it transpired, I scored unbelievably well because my iron play in particular wasn't very crisp. In fact, I was swinging the club over the top most of the time and, as a result of that, I found myself playing with a fade throughout the final two rounds."



While Elliot's win may have come as a surprise to some, followers of the Capital golf scene will no doubt say that a victory at this level is long overdue from a man who first came to prominence as a Ratho Park member.



He lost to Stephen Gallagher in the fifth round when the Bathgate star won the Scottish Amateur Championship at Glasgow Gailes in 1992 and has also made his presence felt in the British Amateur Championship on a couple of occasions.



After appearing to "disappear" for a spell, Elliot returned to claim the Scottish Mid Amateur Championship in 2002 and, after rounds of 70, 65 and 64, he was certainly a worthy winner last weekend.



"The Scottish Mid Amateur apart, I hadn't really won anything of note from an individual point of view, so it is certainly very nice to put my name on a trophy like the Craigmillar Park Open," he said.



Now Elliot is likely to be among the favourites to win the Lothians Championship at Longniddry early next month. After negotiating the qualifying phase last year, he was strongly fancied to make it to the final only to fall at the penultimate hurdle to Royal Burgess teenager James Ross.



After the Lothians event, Elliot will turn his attention to the Dispatch Trophy and admits he can't wait to head back up to the Braids to defend that famous piece of silverware.



Reflecting on Carrickvale's first-ever win in the event just under 12 months ago, he admitted: "We loved every minute and now we're looking forward to going back to the Braids as the defending champions."



*Royal Burgess have won the West Edinburgh Winter League for the fourth time in the last five years. But they were made to dig deep for the latest victory by final opponents Dalmahoy at Turnhouse, where are all four of the matches went beyond the 16th hole.



Recovering from being three down at one point, John Fraser and Fraser McCluskey beat Robert Carson and Graham McCann by 2 and 1 in the top match, with Grant Hill and Grant Pollock edging Kevin Messer and Tim Cooper by the same score in the match behind.



The father and son pairing of Douglas and James Ross made it 3-0 for Royal Burgess with a one-hole win over David Marshall and Tom Blennerhasset before John Yuille and Brian Tait rounded off a good day's work by the Barnton club, beating Dougie Hunter and Chris Brown on the final green.



"We're delighted to have won the title again but credit to Dalmahoy as they made a real fight of it," admitted Fraser.

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