Scotland call-up
Youngster playing in U14 friendly against France
Perthshire golfer Cormac Sharpe is pulling on the Scotland shirt with pride today.
The Blairgowrie Golf Club member is teeing-up for his country in a friendly under-14 match against France, being held at Crail.
Cormac will compete fresh from playing in the English Boys’ Under 14s Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship in Manchester.
His hard work on the practice range is paying off and head professional at Blairgowrie, Charles Dernie, isn’t surprised to see the 13-year-old earn Scottish selection.
“Cormac has played his golf all of his life here and he has always been evidently good,” said Dernie, who previously played on the European Tour.
“It wasn’t hard to guess that he would do quite well.
“He has very supportive parents who help him a lot and he has no shortage of tournaments to go to.
“He is a very naturally gifted player with good technique which has been helped by one of our professionals Neil Cameron.
“What I would say about Cormac is that he is an extremely hard worker.
“There is absolutely no surprise to see Cormac playing for the under-14s and I think we’ll have some more soon.
“Cormac is still very young. When you are young you have very lofty ambitions - I thought I was going to win the Open when I was young!
“But there is no question that if he keeps progressing that he will want to turn professional.”
Dernie is watching a promising batch of youngsters progressing through the ranks, all who have club member Bradley Neil as an inspiration.
He explained: “We have some very good youngsters at the moment with Connor and Gregor Graham, who are very talented. They all work hard and spur each other on.
“Bradley is very good with the juniors. He plays with them, encourages them and is a good role model.
“They see a local lad having done well and think if they work Cormac Sharpe hard then they can do similar things themselves.
“We would love to have a few more junior members just now and we are working very hard in trying to increase the junior membership.
“We’re having a good year. There was a bit of a dip after Bradley Neil but it was obvious that we had some good players coming in behind.”
Bradley himself has been hitting the right notes in recent weeks on the Challenge Tour and Dernie is tipping him to make the step up to the European Tour.
He said: “I’ve seen a big difference in Bradley. He has the old swagger back and has been playing very well.
“He seems to be getting rid of the odd bad hole that was spoiling his score.
“Now I’d be a little surprised if he didn’t get his European Tour card.
“He is good enough that he could do very well indeed. Bradley is a very good player and when his mind is in the right place, he is very dangerous.”
Dernie is always putting out the rallying call to attract more youngsters to the game of golf.
He added: “Over the summer we’ve had a junior summer camp and have been running get in to golf sessions.
“After the holidays we’re going to go into most of the primary schools in the area to get a golf club into the hands.
“It’s a long term plan but I don’t think we can wait for juniors to show up at our door.
“We need to get into the community and enthuse them with what a great game it is.
“The big thing we are trying to do with juniors is letting them have fun.
“We have very good facilities and a fantastic nine hole course to learn on. So it’s an ideal place for juniors to learn golf.”