Special day for Gregor to play with Open star Great experience atTartanTour event
Perthshire golfer Gregor Graham was learning from one of the best this week.
The Blairgowrie member played alongside Paul Lawrie at the Tartan Pro Tour’s Royal Dornoch Masters.
Gregor was matched up with the 1999 Open winner and fellow talented youngster Connor Wilson for round one on Monday.
He finished with back-toback birdies to card a two-over par 72 and admits he absorbed plenty to help his game moving forward.
“It was really great to play alongside Paul and great to watch someone of that level performing,” Gregor said.
“I was a little bit nervous, but it wasn’t too bad. I’d been around Paul a bit, know he is a really nice guy and had talked to him before.
“You could just see how consistent and steady he is. He rarely does anything wrong and always makes sure he is on the fairway.
“He holed a few lovely putts. So it was a great learning experience just watching it all.
“The biggest thing I found was that he just doesn’t make silly mistakes. If he hits a bad one, he misses in the right spot so not to leave himself a tricky shot back.
“I got off to a bit of a tough start. I fought my way back and finished off with two nice birdies for a solid round of golf.
“I was pretty happy walking off the course with a 72 because it was pretty tricky conditions with the wind.”
Gregor, who is still only 17, revealed Lawrie made sure to get in touch after the round to provide some further words of wisdom.
“Paul chatted during the round,” said Gregor. “After it he sent me a text to say it was great to play with me.
“And he said he was looking forward to doing more work with me and helping me in the future. That was really nice of him.”
A second round 76 in tough conditions resulted in an eightover par finishing total.
Winner of the tournament was Kieran Cantley, who pieced together impressive rounds of 66 and 68.
He defeated Paul O’Hara in a playoff after both players had finished on six-under par.
“It was a great experience overall and I just love that golf course,” Gregor explained to the
Perthshire Advertiser.
“You can’t get many better par threes and it’s special to play.
“While it wasn’t my best performance, it was great learning from Paul. And then I got to play with his son Craig the day after.
“I’ve just got to go back, do a bit of work and get my game ready for the next event.”
The next couple of months represent an exciting time for the Scottish youth international. He has a busy schedule linedup before making the move to America in the summer.
That move Stateside will see Gregor attend Midland College in Texas where he will be mixing his golf with studies.
The American route has proved beneficial for a number of Perthshire golfers, including European Tour player Calum Hill and Daniel Young, who is currently out in South Africa on the Challenge Tour.
“I’m leaving for America in August,” smiled Gregor. “I’m really excited to get over there.
“It looks like it’s going to be a pretty busy schedule this year if everything goes to plan.
“I’ve got a couple of Junior Tours that I’ll be playing in and there is the Scottish Men’s Strokeplay and, hopefully, the Links Trophy at St Andrews.”
Gregor hopes to be in a position to motor himself to tournaments in the not too distant future. Driving lessons resumed when he returned from Dornoch this week and his test is on the horizon.
Dad Stuart is normally on duty when it comes to travelling to events and Gregor laughed: “I’ll be able to drive him up to the pub. He might take advantage of that!”
Seniors Howkins Cup Round 1 -
Summer League, Wednesday, April 21 - Division 1 - F Smith (9) 69, C Kinnear (8) 69, G Swingler (3) 71. Division 2 - S Fraser (11) 66, F Mills (14) 67, G Butt (15) 68. Division 3 - D Milne (20) 63, D Kirk (19) 64, J Oswald (18) 66. Dear Trophy (Pairs Stableford), Saturday, April 24 -
Summer League, Sunday, April 25 - Division 1 - B Murdoch (5) 65, C Kinnear (7) 68, W Sinclair (6) 69. Division 2 - R Gormley (11) 71, D Hall (16) 73, G Anderson (16) 76. Division 3 - S Thomson (20) 68.
Lynedoch Medal, Sunday, April 25 - Division 1 - G Smith (7) 67. Division 2 - A Winton (15) 65, B Rogers-Bald (12) 70, A Tait (16) 72. Division 3 - B McCall (19) 66, C Russell (19) 70, J Robertson (22) 73.
Limpopo Championship - Pro golfers Bradley Neil and DanielYoung didn’t get their Challenge Tour season off to the start they had hoped for last week.
The Perthshire duo are both over in South Africa and competed in the curtain-raising Limpopo Championship at Euphoria GC.
Neil carded rounds of 75 and 72 to miss the cut whileYoung also didn’t make the weekend with scores of 71 and 81.
After his two rounds, Blairgowrie member Neil noted:“Not the first week in South Africa we wanted. Used the weekend wisely to analyse the data and identify the positives and weaknesses.”
Neil andYoung both made the journey over to Cape Town for the second event in a three-tournament stretch. The Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open teed-off yesterday.