Scottish championship title win for young Kemnay golfer
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Kemnay Golf Club’s Fraser Laird was crowned 2022 Scottish Boys’ Amateur champion at Edzell Golf Club.
After eight rounds of golf in five days, Laird overcame Gullane’s Cameron Mukherjee by a score of one up in the final.
Having qualified in 19th from the strokeplay stages, Laird battled well through the matchplay rounds racking up a series of impressive wins including a last-16 victory against Niall Shiels Donegan.
Mukherjee, who won the 2021 Scottish Boy’s Under 14 Open title, took an early advantage in the final winning the first, but Laird hit straight back to even things up at the second.
Over the next eight holes, every hole was halved apart from the seventh which saw Mukherjee hold a one up lead with eight to play.
However, it was the stretch from eleven to fourteen that would prove decisive, with Laird winning three of those holes to go ahead in the match for the first time, taking a two-hole lead to the 15th tee.
After halves on the next two holes, Mukherjee managed to take the match down to the last by winning the 17th, but Laird held his nerve to claim the title.
Speaking after lifting the trophy, a delighted Laird said: "It feels surreal just now, I wasn’t expecting anything going into the week so coming out with the trophy is just amazing really.
"It’s been a tough week. The conditions we’ve had and the intensity of playing two rounds every day for the last three days as well as the games I’ve had which have been tough.
"First match today I played solid against Ross, I think I was two or three under. In the final I got off to a shaky start but pulled it back in the mid-part of the round and closed it out at the end.
‘This achievement ranks number one for me, it’s not even close. The course at Edzell has been good all week, greens have been good – fast and true, it’s been in great nick."
