Stirling group on song

STIRLING University players rounded off a successful pre-season trip to Abu Dhabi by dominating the Yas Links Amateur Championship.

David Booth, the Stirling captain, pipped team-mate Jack McDonald in a play-off to claim the title over the Kyle Phillips-designed course, with Graeme Robertson a shot behind in third.

In carding a second-round 69, Scotland international Robertson set a new course record, achieving the feat a few days after Richie Ramsay had shot a new professional record when winning the Emirates Airline Invitational Pro-Am with a ten-under-par 62.

McDonald, the 2009 Scottish Boys’ Stroke-Play champion, led the field by four shots after an opening 71 before adding a 75, with Englishman Booth achieving his total of 146 the other way around and then going on to claim the spoils with a birdie at the third extra hole.

Robertson missed out on the play-off by a single shot, with Dr John Mathers, the Stirling team’s sports psychologist, also giving a good account of himself to finish fourth in a field of more than 100 players on 153.

“David Booth is in his final semester of his postgraduate degree and has aspirations to become a European Tour player,” said Stirling head performance coach Dean Robertson. “He saved his best golf for the play-off and performed brilliantly.”

Also praising the young runner-up, he added: “Jack has quickly emerged as one of the leading players on the University programme.”