Something is stirring in the Kingdom of Fife.
Having watched a host of champions crowned on the domestic circuit last season, the good golfing folk of this great heartland of the game had further cause for celebration last night as Brian Soutar captured the biggest victory of his career in the South African Amateur Championship.
The 27-year-old Leven Golfing Society member battled to a fine 2 and 1 victory over the highly-rated Brandon Stone in the 36-hole final at Mowbray Golf Club in Cape Town to become the second successive Scot, after Michael Stewart in 2011, to win the title and an invitation for the South African Open in November.
"I can't wait for that, my European Tour debut, that's what you dream of," he said. "Brandon is some player and there is no doubt he will be on our TV screens one day, but this is absolutely brilliant for me, a fantastic achievement."
Soutar and Stone were level after the opening 18 holes, but the Scot inched ahead with a par on the 20th, before making a birdie on the 25th to double that lead. Damaging bogeys at the 29th and 31st allowed Stone to restore parity, but Soutar holed a 15-footer for eagle on the long 32nd to get his nose in front again, before taking advantage of a Stone bogey on the par-three 34th to move into a match-winning two-hole lead.
It has been a remarkable 12 months for Fife golfers. Soutar teed-off the run last April when he won the Scottish Champion of Champions. Lundin's James White landed both the Tennant Cup and the North of Scotland Open and topped the SGU's order of merit, while Drumoig-based Greg Paterson and Aberdour's Scott Crichton also claimed 72-hole titles. St Andrews teenagers Josh Jamieson and Ben Kinsley won the Scottish Boys' Strokeplay Championship and the Scottish under-16 event respectively, while Pitreavie's Louise Kenney triumphed in the national women's championship. To cap it all, Fife won the Scottish Area Team Championship for the first time.
Soutar's victory bolsters Scottish amateur golf's record in the global arena over the past decade, when Scots have won a US Amateur title, two Australian Amateur crowns, a British Amateur title and an Eisenhower Trophy.
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