Young Out to Rule Again in Aberdeen

 

                                                                                                        By ED HODGE

ScottishGolf

Clara

 Young, pictured, went under the radar to win the St Rule Trophy at St Andrews on Sunday, but is certainly a player to beat at this week’s Scottish Women’s Amateur at Royal Aberdeen.

The 20-year-old North Berwick player returned to home soil with a bang after recently completing her third year at US college at the University of Missouri.

Young became the fourth Scot in the last six years to win the St Rule, overcoming overnight leader Gemma Clews to edge out Aussie Montana Strauss by a stroke over the Old and New Courses in St Andrews.

The North Berwick native was playing in her first event since the end of April, but stayed cool under pressure to secure a memorable triumph.

 “It was a really good result, a little bit unexpected but it was really nice to get the win, especially at St Andrews as it’s such a nice place,” said Young.

“I’ve been playing fairly average, but the last sort of month and a half I’ve not really had any sort of tournaments to play in, as our season finished. I’ve been practising since I came back to Scotland two weeks ago. The game has been there, so I’ve just been trying to get back into the way of playing tournaments and scoring.

“I had played the New and Old Courses before and I love them, they’re always in great shape. Things just seemed to click, I stayed out a lot of the bunkers and putted well. Gemma is on form and I felt like I had quite a lot of work to do. I played with her in the first two rounds and she was really playing great. I knew I had to make birdies, while I know on the Old Course you can get in some tough spots.”

Young, a graduate of the ClubGolf national junior programme, sees positive signs for the female game in Scotland, with her win building on recent good displays from the likes of Shannon McWilliam, Chloe Goadby and Hannah McCook.

The Kevin Craggs-coached player added: “It was really good to see a lot of the Scottish girls up there, it shows that we are kind of getting a little bit deeper as a nation. There were three of us in the top-10 which is a really good result, as it was a fairly strong field. It shows the girls are doing the right things with Scottish Golf.”

Young, a Girls’ and Ladies’ internationalist, became the youngest Scottish Ladies Amateur champion in over 30 years at the age of 18 in 2015 at Monifieth.

She now heads for the north-east seeking more success as Royal Aberdeen hosts the women’s amateur less than a year after the men’s equivalent.

Ahead of tee off tomorrow (6 June), she said: “I’m just going to take it a day at a time at Royal Aberdeen, I’ve only played the course once. I’m sure it will be a tough week, but I’m looking forward to it and getting ready for it. Hopefully I can keep the form going on another links course.”

 

> View tee times at Royal Aberdeen