Soutar ready for return to Scots’ amateur squad

BRIAN Soutar, the 2012 South African Amateur champion who refused a place in the Scottish squad this season after returning to work as a welding inspector, is to return to the national stage later this month.

The Leven Golfing Society player, who has worked in Norway since last October, is in the Fife line-up for the Scottish Area Team Championship at Crail after landing a job nearer home.

“I’ve got a job as a project manager for my old NDT ­company back home on my doorstep,” he told The Scotsman. “So I will be trying to get back into my golf again. I’m playing in the Area Team, the St Andrews Links and a few more towards the end of the season.” Soutar was a full-time amateur for two years, winning the 2011 Scottish Champion of Champions over his home course before helping Fife record a first victory in the Area Team Championship at Prestwick the same year.

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He then succeeded compatriot Michael Stewart as the South African Amateur champion last season but refused to take up the spot he had earned in the South Africa Open after ­spending a “small fortune” ­subsidising his amateur career.

Soutar, a member of last year’s winning side in the Home Internationals in Ayrshire, added: “I’ve got no plans to turn ­professional but will be trying to get back in the Scotland team.

“I probably won’t play enough competitions this year to make the Homes [at Ganton in August], but you never know.”

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