Golf: SGU selection policy will ‘stop old pals’ acts’

ALLYN DICK, who was bitterly unhappy at losing his place in last year’s Home Internationals team, has welcomed the Scottish Golf Union’s decision to formalise its selection policy.

The move will allow the country’s leading amateurs to know exactly what level of performance is required to be considered for major team events.

Dick was twice the Scottish Mid-Amateur champion when he was at Shotts and is now a member at Kingsknowe in Edinburgh. He made his Scotland debut in the 2010 Home Internationals in Wales, where he partnered James Byrne to three foursome wins and picked up four-and-a-half points in total. Last season, Dick won the Newlands Trophy, a Scottish Order of Merit event at Lanark, for the second year running but lost his place in the team for the Home Internationals in Ireland.

“Unhappy would be an understatement,” said Dick when asked about that decision. “I asked for clarification as to the reasons I was dropped and others who performed worse were included. Within the SGU contract it clearly points out that all squads will be selected in line with the selection procedures, which I asked for a copy of.”

That has now been made public and Dick, the 2010 Lothians champion, added: “It’s much needed to avoid the old friends’ acts that have been clearly in place in the past.

“I have had a quick look over the policy and agree with much of what is written. It’s a clear selection criteria which I think a lot of people have been asking for.”

The Scotland captain, Scott Knowles, added: “There has always been a lot of criticism about how the team is picked and this puts the policy in the public domain. It is more for the players than responding to criticism, though. It lets the players know what boxes they have to tick.”