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FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SOME OF SCOTLAND’S MOST TALENTED PLAYERS

A group of talented junior golfers from across the north of Scotland will be raising their game in this year’s Grampian Houston Junior Golf’s 10th tour to Houston, Texas, to develop their skills on some of the world’s finest courses.

From Fort William to Muir of Ord to Aberdeen, the selected group of 11 boys and one girl includes: Sophie Alexander (Aberdeen), Freddie Brown (Nairn), Sean Burgess (Nairn), Christopher Lamb (Aberdeen), Jordan Milne (Moray), Lewis Mutch (MacDuff), Ross Proctor (Forres), Jamie Reid (Peterhead), Alasdair Ross (Fort William), Jake Scott (Moray), Jack Walker (Fraserburgh) and Jamie Whittet (Muir of Ord).

Grampian Houston Junior Golf chairman, John Connon, said: “I am delighted to welcome this year’s 12 lucky golfers to a trip of a lifetime. Once again the standard was high and the selection of the team was not easy. This is an excellent opportunity for young players to improve their game and get a flavour of the various scholarship programmes.

“Who knows perhaps amongst this year’s group we have the next James Byrne, a former member of the Grampian Houston Junior Golf team, who went on to a scholarship in the USA, competed at the highest level of amateur golf representing Great Britain and Ireland at the recent Walker Cup in Aberdeen and is now making a name for himself in the professional ranks.”

This year’s crop of youngsters will head to Houston on 9 October for a 10-day tour to receive coaching from some of the world’s top players, including Steve Elkington and Mark O’Meara and visit a number of university campuses that provide golf scholarships. It is planned that at least one tournament will be played against an American team as part of a major tournament hosted by Bruce Davidson, director of golf at River Oaks Country Club.

The programme, which has seen 120 of the north of Scotland’s most talented golfers make a similar trip and more than 30 of them receiving scholarships, is a non-profit making organisation that raises money through its annual Pro-Am tournament, which was this year staged at Royal Aberdeen golf course.

The trip is organised by the Grampian Houston Junior Golf Committee and is aimed at giving young golfers an opportunity to play in the United States and an opportunity to sample college golf. As a result of the previous biennial trips the committee has secured more than 30 golf scholarships for junior golfers, making it the most successful programme of its type in the country.

Grampian Houston Junior Golf was founded in 1992 by Bruce Davidson, the current director of golf at the prestigious River Oaks Country Club in Houston, when he was the professional at Kings Links Golf Centre, Aberdeen. His aim was to give young players from the north east of Scotland golf scholarship opportunities in the US studying at college or university while playing competitive golf.

Munro’s Travel Group, Scotland’s leading independent corporate travel agency, is the principle sponsor of Grampian Houston Junior Golf. Munro’s has established enduring links with Houston over 35 years, thanks to its association with Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) and organising travel for thousands of business people over the year, as well as coordinating travel arrangements for American business people when visiting Grampian and Aberdeen for Offshore Europe.

Jack Burnett, senior partner of Munro’s, who was on the original committee in 1992 and a major contributor to the programme, said: “I have been involved with Grampian Houston Junior Golf, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year from the beginning and it has proven to be a valuable programme for a number of young golfers. The selection for this tour presents a fantastic opportunity for some of the north and north east finest young golfers to improve their game and make an individual impression in Houston.”

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