Given that we are beavering away here in the leafy, money-soaked Wentworth estate where the ageless Bruce Forsyth resides, perhaps we should have shuffled up to his elaborate pile and asked him about Scottish golf’s generation game? It was a case of nice to see you to see you yesterday as Glasgow’s Scott Jamieson plonked a saltire up in the high grounds of the leaderboard during the first round of the BMW PGA Championship with a neatly assembled, bogey-free five-under 67 which left him just a shot behind early leader, Johan Carlsson . Didn’t he do well? He certainly did but Jamieson is well aware that the yawning generation gap in the Scottish scene continues to be something of a concern.
While a new wave of upwardly mobile 20-somethings from the other side of Hadrian’s partition are marching forth with gusto on both the European stage and beyond, the Scots contingent would make old Brucie look like a sprightly young rookie in comparison.
At 33-years of age, Jamieson, a winner on the main European circuit back in 2013, is one of the younger Scots on the tour but with no player in their 20s competing at the top table, the Cathkin Braes man admitted he is at a lost to explain the lack of new Scottish faces emerging on the scene.
“I don’t know the answer to it,” said Jamieson when asked for an answer to a question that most folk in Scottish golf struggle to answer when questioned about it. “There is definitely a generation that has gone missing. We were spoiled for years with Sam Torrance, Sandy Lyle and Monty. We had No 1s and regular winners. It’s strange. The tour is becoming harder and harder.”
Having enjoyed a stint across the Atlantic during his time at Augusta State University, Jamieson, who is also married to an American, has a strong affinity with the USA and he concedes that a move away from the meteorological muddlings of his native land may be the answer to fulfilling his full potential. “Living in Scotland is not conducive to competing with these guys,” added Jamieson, who illuminated his round yesterday with a birdie putt of around 30-feet on the 10th. “If you’re lucky to be on tour, at least you’re getting out there and you get the chance to play in good conditions and practice in them too. But if you’re not doing that then it’s hard. I have been tempted to move away. There’s maybe something on the horizon, we’ll wait and see. My wife is American so it’s something we’ll think about. They say that between the ages of 34 and 40 is the time when you have the wiser head in terms of golf.”
Jamieson has just managed to cling on to his tour card over the past couple of seasons but the former Scottish Boys’ Strokeplay champion has found his form in the new campaign.
A share of fourth in the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa and a tie for third in the Hero Indian Open have lifted him to the fringes of the top 50 on the European order of merit this term. He is eager to keep moving forward and avoid any more nail-nibbling battles for survival at the wrong end of the rankings. “It’s much easier when you’re not looking over your shoulder,” he said.
It was Carlsson who was peering down at the rest after charging to the turn in 30 en route to a six-under 66. The Swede stumbled over the finishing line with a bogey on the last but, having missed six of his last eight cuts, Carlsson was more than happy. “I didn’t manage to tie up the bag, as we say in Sweden,” said Carlsson of his late wobble.
Francesco Molinari, the Italian Ryder Cup player, prospered on the two closing par-5s and pick up shots at both the 17th and 18th to clamber into a share off second with Jamieson and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat. Henrik Stenson, the reigning Open champion, covered his first 10 holes in level-par but he upped the ante on the run-in and played his last six in four-under to lurk among the leading pack with a 68. Aberdeen’s Richie Ramsay was on course to join the Swede on that mark but he got himself in a tangle in the rough on the 17th and leaked a shot on his way to three-under 69.
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