George Burns wins Scottish Amateur title at Crail

So much for west being best. It’s been onwards and upwards for George Burns since he left Glasgow and headed east. He gained an economics degree with first-class honours at St Andrews University and is now seeing his undoubted golfing talent reap rewards. The 22-year-old is the 2019 Scottish Amateur champion after landing the title at his new home club of Crail.

George Burns with the Scottish Amateur trophy. Picture: Kenny Smith/Crail Golfing Society

In the event’s first visit to the Fife venue, Burns beat Kirkhill’s Lewis Irvine at the 19th hole on the Gil Hanse-designed Craighead Links, becoming the first player since Jim Milligan at Kilmarnock (Barassie) in 1988 to make home advantage count. The success has secured a Home Internationals debut for Burns at Lahinch in September.

“It’s crazy. It feels awesome,” said the new champion, who came through the ranks at Williamwood in Glasgow before taking up membership at the picturesque East Neuk club 10 months ago. “It feels like some justification for the long hours of practice I’ve put in and the frustration I’ve gone through over the last couple of years. It feels nice.”

In ideal golfing conditions, the first 18-hole title shoot-out in the event’s history got off to a hot start as both players opened with three birdies. Burns drew first blood when a par proved good enough at the fourth, and, displaying a sharp short game, he quickly doubled that advantage with a birdie at the long sixth.

Irvine, who’d earlier won at the second extra hole against Kilmacolm’s Matt Clark in the morning semi-finals, missed a number of putts before finally converting a birdie opportunity following a lovely approach at the 11th, only for Burns to hit back straight away by rolling in an 18-footer at the next.

After Irvine found trouble off the tee at the par-4 14th, it seemed as though Burns was set to go three up. But, after three-putting there, he then lost the next to a birdie and also the par-four 17th to a par to find himself all square and, all of a sudden, feeling the heat.

Irvine enjoyed a stroke of luck when his drive at the last clipped the top of a clump of gorse on the right side of the fairway, but, after that was halved in pars, he paid the price for another wayward tee shot, which seemed to be caused by his hand slipping off the club, at the first extra hole. Both players actually made a hash of that, but Burns less so and he clinched victory with a 5 to a 6. “I was playing so well,” said Burns, conqueror of Darren Howie (Peebles) in the other-semi-final, of covering the first 13 holes in an impressive seven-under-par. “I was fairly in control of the match then had a chance to pretty much seal the deal on 14 but had one mental blip. Then, all of a sudden, he made a birdie at the next and anything could have happened the last couple of holes as it got a bit stressful.”

The win saw Burns emulate Scottish golf’s man of the moment Bob MacIntyre, his foursomes partner when they played for Scotland Under-16s. “The names on that trophy must be pretty amazing and it’s pretty cool to have my one alongside them,” he said. “Bob actually beat me on the way to his win at Muirfield in 2015. I didn’t know that I was the first winner from a host club since 1988, so that’s a nice surprise. The support Crail has given me this week has been unbelievable. I couldn’t have asked for any more, and to be able to use the course and practice facilities over the past year has been great.”

Irvine, the 19-year-old winner of the Cameron Corbett Vase at Haggs Castle last month, noted: “It was tough, as I was five-under through 13 and two down due to George being seven-under. I was doing all I could. I then reeled him back a bit at the end, but hit a poor shot at the wrong time. My hand slipped a bit. It was just an unfortunate thing at an unfortunate time, but I’m proud of how I performed this week.”