Strathmore success in Scottish Junior Masters for Summer Elliott and Brodie Cunningham

An exciting new crop of talented young Scottish golfers is starting to take shape, as evidenced in the latest edition of the Barrie Douglas Scottish Junior Masters.

Held at Strathmore, the tournament is staged in honour of a man who could pick out potential stars in the amateur ranks and both Summer Elliot and Brodie Cunningham could certainly fit that bill.

Inverness member Elliott stormed to an eight-shot success in the girls’ event at the Perthshire venue while Bothwell Castle’s Cunningham shot a 63 to set up a slender one-shot victory in the boys’ tournament.

Elliott is starting to make a name for herself in the Scottish junior ranks, having underlined her potential when winning The Race to The Machrie last year beforee also picking up the Paul Lawrie Junior Quaich this season.

Bothwell Castle's Brodie Cunningham and Summer Elliott (Inverness) show off their prizes for being the main winners in the Barrie Douglas Scottish Junior Masters at Strathmore along with boys' under-18 winner Dylan Cairns (Royal Troon). Picture: Martin Cairns

“Winning The Machrie felt quite emotional as it was my first win at national level, but it also feels brilliant winning the Barrie Douglas event as it was one of my goals for this season,” said Elliott, who carded rounds of 78-74-68 on the Rannaleroch Course for a one-over-par total.

After qualifying for the match-play phase in Scottish Women’s Championship at Ladybank last month, Elliott lost to eventual winner Carmen Griffiths while she also triumphed on the Scottish Junior Tour earlier in the year at Golspie and Royal Dornoch.

“It was my first bogey-free round and on the last day it felt like nothing could go wrong, it felt so peaceful,” she added of her five-under-par closing effort at Strathmore. “I have been working hard on all areas of my game, have a really good coach in Martin Pigot helping me out and I feel really good about my game.”

Cunningham, who has just turned 16, was equally pleased with his weekend win, which, despite that blistering score in the second round, was still hard earned as he ended up a shot ahead of Gullane’s Cameron Mukherjee, with Dylan Cairns (Royal Troon) one further back in third.

“That’s the best win of my career by far as it’s my first WAGR win,” said the sixth-year pupil at Uddingston Grammar. “I won the Stephen Gallacher Foundation Under-15s’ Championship and a lot of county stuff, but I’ve never managed to win anything on a national scale until now.

“My 63 was by far the best golf I’ve played in my career. It was just one of those days where everything came together and I also felt very calm and collected all the way round the course. I felt confident in every aspect of my game and that was nice.”

Cunningham has been coached since he was six by Alan McCloskey, the PGA pro at Bothwell Castle who works with major winner Paul Lawrie and fellow DP World Tour winner David Law.

“Alan has been a great influence on my game,” admitted Cunningham. “He’s always willing to help out. Even if I’ve not got a lesson booked, I just walk into the shop and he’l give me a tip here and there. He’s also helped me on the mental side and how I manage my way around the golf course.”

Next up for both Cunningham and Elliott is a trip to the Borders, where the Stephen Gallacher Foundation Trophy and Vase events take place from Friday to Sunday at The Schloss Roxburghe on the outskirts of Kelso.

“I think there’s a lot of great tournaments to play in as a junior in Scotland at the moment,” said Cunningham of that one being followed by another 72-holer, The Foundations Open, at Blairgowrie.

“I also feel that the quality of golf is very good, as was shown by the top four at the weekend finishing under par. There’s a lot of good players coming through the ranks.”