Teen on home turf for his GB&I debut

Connor Graham will play for Great Britain and Ireland in the Jacques Leglise Trophy matches on his home course of Rosemount in two weeks’ time.

The 15-year-old, the R&A’s Junior Open champion, has been picked with Scotland team-mates Niall Shiels Donegan and Oliver Mukherjee. The GB&I team will take on the Continent of Europe on August 26 and 27.

Another Scot, North Berwick’s Grace Crawford, will play for the GB&I girls’ team playing Europe in the Junior Vagliano Trophy, also at Blairgowrie.

The matches are held annually between the teams of the best U18s from GB&I and Europe under the auspices of the R&A and European Golf Association.

It will be a first GB&I cap for Connor, who won the Junior Open from an international field at Monifieth in July. Last year he won five times and became the youngest-ever semi-finalist at the Scottish Amateur Championship.

Niall is the son of the California-based golf writer and author Lawrence Donegan and journalist Maggie Shiels.

He was the only player from any side to have a 100% record at the recent Home Internationals at Downfield.

Oliver is one of four golfing brothers from Gullane, and at just 16 won the Scottish Amateur at Glasgow Gailes last month.

The other five team members are all from the England side that won the Home Internationals.

Yorkshire’s Josh Berry and Dylan Shaw-Radford, Florida-based Frank Kennedy, Dubai-based Josh Hill, Tyler Weaver from Bury St Edmunds and Harley Smith from Essex complete the team.

The girls’ team of six has four English players, one Irish, and Grace, who won the Helen Holm Scottish Open and the R&A Girls U16 titles earlier this year. Just 15, she is attached to her home West Links at North Berwick but is currently studying at school in the Bahamas.

Ireland’s Spain-based Marina Joyce-Moreno has been picked, with England’s Rosie Bee Kim, Isla McDonald-O’Brien, Amelia Wan and Maggie Whitehead.

JUNIOR CHOICE: R&A Junior Open champion Connor Graham will play at Rosemount – his home course.