Catriona Matthew deserving winner of

top sportscotland Sports Award

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE

By MARTIN DEMPSTER

I don't know who they were, but the judges for the sportscotland Scottish Sports Awards deserve a huge pat on the back for recognising golf in a way that doesn't happen very often when it comes to these sort of things.

Catriona Matthew won the top award, David Law scooped the prize for amateur performance of the year, the Open got the vote for best sporting event in 2009 and Colin Montgomerie was honoured with a lifetime achievement award.

In an era when you sometimes feel as though football is the only sport people care about, this was all very refreshing and I only wish the results had been known before a conversation I had in the middle of last week.

There I was singing Matthew's praises in the wake of her magnificent win in the Women's British Open earlier this year, yet was struggling to convince a fellow golf journalist that her achievements in 2010 were greater than those of Andy Murray.

Don't get me wrong. I believe Murray has done a splendid job for Scottish sport over the last few years and exciting times lie ahead, there's no doubting that. It really does bug me, though, that Murray merits having a BBC Scotland journalist following him all around the world yet our golfers are often overlooked when they do something of note.

For once, golf got the plaudits it richly deserved and, in the case of Catriona Matthew, her award simply couldn't have gone to a more deserving recipient.

+Editor's note: My vote goes to Martin Dempster as Scotland's golf writer of the year!