It was blustery and damp in the north east but for Eric McIntosh, those laden clouds that had been hanging about over Aberdeen for much of Scottish Boys Championship week had a silver lining.
A 2&1 victory over Kirkhill’s Lewis Irvine in the 36-hole final at Murcar Links, a win confirmed by a birdie putt of 15-feet on the 35th, brought a rigorous six days of golf to a triumphant end. Winning doesn’t come easy in this game and McIntosh has overcome more hurdles than you’d get at Aintree. Nine rounds of matchplay combat was rewarded with the ultimate conquest as the 17-year-old claimed the honours in the national under-18s showpiece.
“It’s a long week, coming through all of these matches to win,” reflected McIntosh as he savoured the most significant win of his young career. “This is definitely my biggest success. I guess I’ve had quite a low key career as an amateur, but my coach David Patrick has really brought my golf along in the last two years so that has definitely helped. I’d love to go on now and win the Scottish Boys Order of Merit, that would be amazing.”
On Grand National weekend it would be fair to say that McIntosh and Irvine were not the runners that most folk would have tipped for golfing glory at the start of the championship. The head-to-head format of matchplay golf tends to fling form and reputation out of the clubhouse window, though, and so it had proved again in the Granite City as seeds tumbled and surprise packages prospered.
“It feels amazing and I certainly didn’t expect to be sitting here with the trophy this week,” added McIntosh with the clump of silverware plonked beside him.
The day hadn’t started particularly well for McIntosh. A brace of early bogeys at the first and second was hardly good for the nerves as he fell two holes behind but he was swiftly on the ascendancy as the fluctuating fortunes of matchplay golf saw the pendulum swing back in his favour. Irvine, looking to become the first Lanarkshire golfer to capture the Boys title since Steven O’Hara won here at Murcar back in 1998, stumbled to four successive bogeys at the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh to fall one hole behind. When McIntosh trundled in a birdie putt on the eighth, the advantage was doubled.
The topsy-turvy nature of affairs continued when McIntosh conceded the 10th but, after a series of halved holes, Irvine’s sliced tee-shot on the 16th led to a lost ball and he fell two behind again. Lunch could have tasted a bit better for the Kirkhill lad had he rolled in a four-footer for birdie on the 18th but it didn’t drop and McIntosh preserved his two hole advantage.
That didn’t last long when McIntosh made bogey on the 21st but his response was purposeful and profitable as he holed a raking birdie putt of some 45-feet on the 24th to reclaim his two hole lead and keep Irvine at arm’s length. Another birdie on the 29th inched McIntosh closer to victory but the spirited Irvine refused to let his opponent canter over the finishing line and McIntosh had to hole excellent birdie putts at both the 33rd and 35th to stave off those advances and finally put the tin lid on his title triumph.
“I holed a lot of putts at crucial times which kept that nice two-hole cushion and it was great to sink the putt to win it, what a feeling,” added McIntosh.
That winning feeling takes some beating.
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