Scott Borrowman makes mark in the paid ranks

SCOTTISH golf has a growing litany of players who rush into the professional ranks without having anything tangible to back up such a bold career decision. Needless to say, the majority are treading water.

Patience paid off for the Scot who waited until he was 28 to join the professional ranks. Picture: Gareth Easton

In contrast, Scott Borrowman has waited until turning 28 to join the paid brigade, yet he’d followed in the spikemarks of both Stephen Gallacher and Martin Laird, as well as Paul McGinley and Frenchman Gregory Bourdy, when claiming the Scottish Youths’ title at Erskine in 2007.

Proving patience is indeed a virtue, the Dollar man tasted victory on his professional debut – in an event on the new PGA Mediterranean Tour in Egypt – and now he’s about to start gearing up for a crack at the PGA EuroPro Tour.

“It felt like the time was right to move into the paid ranks,” said Borrowman, who retained the Scottish Champion of Champions title last year after helping Scotland win the Nations Cup at Sotogrande in Spain. “I had been working full time for a local removal company for the last three years of my amateur career.

“Unfortunately it was starting to become difficult to play and practise as much as I wanted while working and my golf was starting to suffer. ‘Now or never’ came to mind, so having spoken to my family and, with their support, I decided to turn professional.”

Having managed to secure a two-year sponsorship from the First Scottish Group, Borrowman reckons his fate in the paid ranks lies in his own hands. “The only person that you can ever blame in this game is yourself,” he declared. “At times in my late teens and early 20s I might not have worked hard enough to reach my full potential. However, I am more than making up for that now as I am 100 per cent committed to my golf.”

Also still committed in his bid to make progress in the game, Banchory’s James Byrne got off to a promising start in an attempt to win the same event on the Asian Development Tour for the second time in three years. Byrne, the 2013 champion, is lying joint second, one off the lead, after signing for a five-under 67 in the PGM CCM Rahman Putra Championship in Selangor.