Bathgate produces another promising player in talented teenager James Wood

17-year-old storms to nine-shot success in The Foundations Trophy at Blairgowrie

Bathgate, home of three Ryder Cup players in Eric Brown, Bernard Gallacher and Stephen Gallacher as well as numerous other good golfers, has spawned another promising player in James Wood.

The 17-year-old had already joined Bernard Gallacher and three others to win the Lothians Junior Championship flying the West Lothian club’s flag and now he’s landed an equally impressive victory in The Foundations Trophy at Blairgowrie.

In an event run by the Stephen Gallacher Foundation and Barrie Douglas Foundation and supported by St Leonards School in St Andrews, Wood posted rounds of 69-72-69-74 on the Lansdowne Course for a five-under total, winning by nine shots from Ethan Lang (Elderslie) and Fraser Walters (Craigielaw).

Bathgate's James Wood, right, shows off The Foundations Trophy alongside Fintan Bonner, the St Leonards School in St Andrews golf coach, after his nine-shot success at Blairgowrie. Picture: SGF

“I played pretty solid golf over the four rounds,” said Wood, who plays off plus 2.6. “I was quite happy as I kept it in play and did everything pretty smart. You need to be almost perfect in most of your game on that course as it is really tight and demanding.”

He carded five birdies in his opening salvo then went one better in the penultimate round. “I got off to a really solid start through the first nine holes and it was just a case of trying to keep it going after that,” he added. “I knew after the opening two rounds what my lines were and what clubs I needed to hit off certain tees.

“I knew what I needed to do and it was just a case of trying to go out and keep doing it and I played solid again in the third round and the final round as well, so, overall, it was a good four rounds in three days.”

In addition to 1965 champion Gallacher, Wood also emulated Bryan Shields (1983), Kurt Mungall (1986) and Ross Callan (2017) by landing the Lothians Boys’ title at the Braids while he also won the Carnoustie Junior Open towards the end of last season.

“Yeah, I had a good end to last season,” he reflected, “and I was just trying to keep that going into this season by continuing to play well, which I’ve managed to do as this is my first win in a three-day event.

“I’d love to play for Scotland at some point and also play well in some of these bigger events, as I’ve been doing at the start of the season. Just focus on the little things rather than looking at the bigger picture.

“I’ve got the Barrie Douglas event next at Strathmore then the Stephen Gallacher Foundation event at The Roxburghe and the next one after that is the Scottish Boys at Scotscraig.”

Four-time DP World Tour winner and 2014 Ryder Cup team member Gallacher is back living in Bathgate and Wood admits that he’s inspired by his home club having a rich history of producing top golfers.

”Yeah, definitely,” he said. “I look up to a lot of the pros. I know Ross [Callan] and Joe [Bryce] really well and I’ve seen Stephen quite a bit this year down at the club as well. I definitely want to follow in their footsteps while Stuart [Callan, the club’s PGA pro] has helped me get to where I am now.”

While the likes of Cameron Adam, the current Scottish Amateur champion and a former Stephen Gallacher Foundation ambassador, and lots of others are flourishing on the US college circuit, Wood is staying closer to home for his next step after leaving school last August.

“I’m going to Stirling University in September. I’m going to be studying sports science and can hopefully get on to the golf team as well,” he said. “If I play good golf this year, then that can hopefully happen and what Dean Robertson (Stirling’s high performance golf coach) has done with a lot of players who’ve gone there over the years speaks for itself as they’ve gone on tour and won things as well.

“Yeah, I kind of weighed it up. It was just a better option for us all as a family to stay over here and go down that path instead of going to the States. The facilities there look great, so it will be a good place to be.”