Kevin Craggs hails Scottish golf’s girl power

HAVING discovered someone who is prepared to work even harder than him, Kevin Craggs knows full well that Catriona Matthew has no intention of taking her foot off the gas for a while yet.

Elderslies Alyson McKechin hits a tee shot in the rain-hit final at Longniddry. Picture: Scott Louden

Indeed, he reckons his star pupil is in with a great chance of tasting victory again on the LPGA Tour in a three-event stretch starting in the Bahamas this week.

But, wearing his other cap – that of the Scottish Ladies Golfing Association’s national coach – Craggs is confident that a queue of players will be lining up waiting to eventually take over Matthew’s mantle as the country’s No 1 lady golfer.

“The key question is who’s going to be our next Catriona Matthew and I’m really excited about the future of Scottish ladies’ golf,” said Craggs after watching Elderslie’s Alyson McKechin beat Clara Young from North Berwick by 3 and 2 in the 18-hole final of the 99th Scottish Ladies’ Championship at Longniddry.

Both McKechin, a 19-year-old from Pailsey who laid the foundations for a victory that was witnessed from start to finish by Matthew with a polished front-nine performance and only became a bit rugged when it started to rain heavily, and 16-year-old Young are products of a development programme that has been overseen by the effervescent Craggs.

“Both Alyson and Clara are a credit to the national golf system,” he added. “Alyson, for instance, came along to a scout day at Brucefields Family Golf Centre at Stirling and has gone through every squad in the system.

“With all the girls, we work hard on physical, technical, tactical and lifestyle elements. and the way Alyson has performed, both on and off the course, this week has been fantastic and the same applies to Clara.”

McKechin, whose win in East Lothian came on the back of her finishing joint runner-up in the Helen Holm Trophy at Troon last month, was playing off 15 five years ago but is fast emerging as a serious contender for next year’s Curtis Cup in America.

“I’m not thinking about turning professional until the end of 2014,” she said. “I’ll keep playing full-time amateur for now and if I can keep performing as I have been then hopefully the Curtis Cup can become a possibility.”

Heaping praise on her mentor, she added: “Kevin is a great motivator as well as a great coach. If you are ever feeling down about anything, he’s really good at picking you up. From every point of view, whether it is technical or physical, I think he’s a very good national coach.”

While a tad disappointed to have fallen at the final hurdle, especially in front of fellow North Berwick native Matthew, Young will get one more chance to become the event’s youngest winner when it is staged at Prestwick in 12 months’ time.

Her game wasn’t at its best in the final, partly due to the pressure applied by McKechin when she was hitting first. However, Young is not only an exciting prospect but also goes about her business in a way that understandably fills her entire family with pride.

“It’s been a good week as I’d gladly have taken reaching the final at the start of the event,” said Young, who sat two Highers before each of her qualifying rounds and was set for some “cramming” over the weekend ahead of an English exam today.

In proving an excellent host venue, Longniddry set the scene nicely for a festival of golf in East Lothian this year, with the US Kids Golf European Championship next up followed, of course, by the return of the Open Championship to Muirfield in two months’ time.