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Greg clinches teen title as Scots No 1
National victory in Fife for Caldervale High pupil
An Airdrie teenager has been crowned best young golfer in the country at the Scottish Boys’ Amateur Golf Championship.
Caldervale High School pupil Greg Dalziel came out on top at the tournament held between the Drumoig and Scotscraig golf clubs in Fife.
The starting line-up consisted of nearly 200 boys who played a round at each course.
The top 64 boys in the strokeplay competition then progressed to matchplay which was held at Scotscraig over four days.
The 16- year- old Greg, who represents Airdrie Golf Club, battled it out over six days before a tense final showdown with Aussie-based Scot Josh Greer.
Greer, who plays out of the Joondalup club in Western Australia, had built up a twohole lead by the third green before Dalziel brought the match back to all square on the seventh hole.
Dalziel had the chance to pull ahead on the eighth hole but narrowly missed his putt. The first round finished with Greer ahead by two holes, having won the 16th and the 18th.
Dalziel’s putting had let him down in the first round so he spent most of his lunch break practising on the putting green.
Greer continued the second round as he had finished the first by taking a three-hole lead on the 21st before Airdrie’s Dalziel dug in and squared the match five holes later.
With Greer’s putter starting to fail him, Dalziel moved ahead for the first time in the match on the 29th and never looked back.
“I certainly didn’t picture this coming into the week, but I came through and held on so I’m delighted,” said Dalziel.
“I just dug in and I love matchplay to be honest, so that helped me.
“I’ve won the Scottish Boys’ Area Team Championship with Lanarkshire the past two years so I drew on that experience.
“It’s my best experience in the game today – my biggest win to date.”