Gleneagles ambassador Carly Booth handed double incentive

Team Championship ambassador Booth has set her sights on return to Perthshire venue

Qualification will be a tall order, but Carly Booth has two Gleneagles dates circled in red on her calendars for this year and next.

Unveiled yesterday as an ambassador for the European Golf Team Championships in the summer, the Comrie golfer has set her sights on playing as well as promoting the innovative mixed team event.

Then, in 2019, the Solheim Cup will be played at the championship venue the 25-year-old knows better than any other.

It’s a double incentive for the former Scottish Ladies champion of whom big things were expected when she was making a name for herself in Perthshire and beyond, breaking record after record in her teenage years.

“It is great to be part of the event with the ambassadorial role but obviously I would love to play in it,” said Booth, now based in Manchester.

“Fingers crossed I will be – especially with it being in Gleneagles, where I grew up playing a lot of golf. It would be an incredible experience.

“We’ve got the Solheim Cup here as well, which is another event I’d love to play in. I’d love to play competitive golf here. To play my first Solheim on home turf would be incredible. That’ s something you dream of.”

Booth has got longer to play her way on to the Solheim team than the European Team one but her cause isn’t aided by a shrunken Ladies European Tour schedule compared to America.

“We’re at a disadvantage in Europe because of the lack of events. That doesn’t help with your world ranking. I need to produce a few good results this year and the start of next year. It would be sad to miss the events,” she admitted.

If Booth shows good form in the run-up to the Solheim, her local knowledge could work in her favour when it comes to captain’s picks. On that level, she is without peer in the ladies’ professional game.

“The fact that I’m from here and know the course would hopefully be an advantage,” she said.

“I couldn’ t even guess how many rounds I’ve played. It would probably be near the 100 mark. They looked after me when I turned pro. I was attached to the golf club. All my practice was here, even if it was just going out for nine holes.

“I used to love playing the Queen’s. I’d get up at half-six in the morning, be hereby seven and have the first tee time. I’d play on my own with the headphones on and three or four golf balls. It was great.”

When Booth was becoming the youngest ever ladies club champion in Scotland at the age of just 11, it was on the back of Gleneagles golf.

“I can’t actually remember my first round,” she said.

“I do remember that my dad used to drop me off and the guys at the pro shop would either bring me home or phone to get me picked up!

“That was when I was between 10 and 13. That was all I did really. I’d play different sports at school, like swimming and gymnastics, then the rest of my day was here. And at the weekends.”

Sibling rivalry at Gleneagles certainly played a part in Booth’s development.

“I have an older brother (Wallace) who played and all I ever wanted to do was beat him,” she recalled.

“I remember how competitive I got at a young age. He beat me all the time and made sure I knew it. He’d rub it in, as a big brother would. That drove me in my determination to get better.

“We played a few times round here and I have beaten him. He did play on tees way back, though!”

The European Golf Team Championships take place between August 8 and 12, as part of the multi-sport Glasgow 2018 European Championships.

The format will feature a 50/50 gender split in the field with male and female professionals competing for equal prize money in both a men’s and women’s team match play championship, as well as an 18-hole foursomes stroke play mixed team championship

Booth said: “The championships will be a great moment for women’s golf competing side-by-side with men on an equal footing.

“I am thrilled to become an ambassador and support an event which will do so much to raise the profile of the Ladies European Tour and women’s golf in general. Gleneagles is such a special place and will be a fitting venue for such a historic event.” Tickets are now on sale, with adult prices from £10 for practice days and £15 on competition days. Children under the age of 16 are admitted free when accompanied by an adult.