Scottish Boys’ Amateur Champion win for young Elgin golfer
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Defending champion Fraser Laird (Kemnay) has finished runner-up after Billy Devine (Elgin) defeated the champion to take the 2023 title as the Scottish Boys’ Amateur Champion at Lanark Golf Club this weekend.
Heading into the match play rounds, Laird was in a strong position having finished the stroke play in second place on -2.
Following up his first-round score of 71 with a confident score of 67, Laird birdied the 7th, 8th, 10th and 17th in the second round.
However, an eagle on the 8th in round 1 for Alexander Farmer (Kilmalcolm), who has recently returned from playing in the Division 2 European Boys’ Team Championships in Slovakia, and a series of birdies in rounds 1 and 2 left him on -3 and topping the stroke play leaderboard.
However, Farmer was ultimately knocked out by Sean Gallacher (Prestonfield) on Friday, the latter finishing on 1UP on the 19th.
Conditions were particularly challenging for players on the Sunday and the final match play stages proved to be an even greater test for players.
Heading into Sunday’s semi-finals (the fifth round of match play for competitors) alongside Devine and Laird were Harry Bent (Gullane) and Alex McGillivray (Nairn).
Speaking at the trophy presentation later, Devine said he 'had to dig deep to mentally overcome that hurdle’ of playing his friend McGillivray, who he acknowledged had been playing well in the tournament.
Indeed, McGillivray aced the 7th hole on Saturday morning on his way to a 5 and 3 win against Gallacher.
However, Devine managed to secure his place in the final by finishing 2UP against his friend.
Meanwhile, Laird remained in fighting form beating Bent to finish on 1UP.
The final round of match play was hotly contested and at one stage it was all square thru 10.
However, Devine managed to break away and was soon 2UP thru 15, eventually managing to clinch victory, finishing on 1UP to secure the Championship title.
Laird took the runner-up prize and both Harry Bent and Alex McGillivray were awarded the Semi-Finalist Crystal Award respectively.
Speaking at the trophy presentation about his feelings on becoming tournament champion and his experience of the event at Lanark, a delighted Billy Devine said:"It feels amazing it’s not quite sunk in yet.
"I could never have dreamt of winning something like this so it’s really great, it’s a proper confidence boost.
"I’ve struggled a little bit this season - it’s been up and down.
"So I just came into this week with a clear mind and hoping to do better.
"My scores in qualifying weren’t amazing but I know with match play it can go anyway so I still kept that positive mindset going into the match play and that’s done me well.
"There were a lot of holes where I had to dig deep in pretty much every match I played.
"The course at Lanark is great, it’s different to what I usually play so it was a test for the couple of days and I then really found my groove into the match play on this course - it almost feels like a second home course now, I’ve played it so much."
