ClubGolf’s Anna, 11, enters record books as
Crail's women's
champion
NEWS RELEASE
ClubGolfer
Anna McKay has become one of the youngest ever winners of a Ladies
Championship after a stunning victory at Crail Golfing Society’s Ladies
Championship on Sunday (23 August).
At
11 years and nine months old, Anna – who impressed Ryder Cup player and
Major champion Graeme McDowell in the Aberdeen Asset Management
Scottish Open Pro-Am earlier this summer – has entered the history books
at the Fife links following
their Finals Day.
The
10 handicapper, who won the Ladies matchplay final 3&2, follows in
the footsteps of two-time Ladies European Tour winner Carly Booth, who
became the youngest ladies' club champion in Britain at the age of 11 at
Dunblane New.
Anna’s
success is all the more remarkable given she has only been back playing
for two months after suffering from Osgood-Schlatter disease in the
past year, a growing pains-related condition.
Anna
started her journey with ClubGolf, the national junior programme, at
the age of four, tagging alongside her older brother, Ben, at Elie and
her continued success is testament to Crail’s dedication to junior
development via ClubGolf,
open access to adult competitions and Scottish Golf coaching. She has
been coached for a number of years by Scottish Golf Regional Performance
Coach Ian Muir and is coming into the Scottish Golf Academy this year.
Before
her weekend win, Anna had already made a name for herself with a long
list of golfing achievements. In 2012, she was runner-up in her age
group in the US Kids World Championships in Pinehurst, North Carolina,
the world’s largest
event for under-13s. She has also won the Elie Girls Open Under-12
title for the past four years and was the Fife County Girls Junior
Scratch champion in 2014.
Her
parents, Colin and Lisa, have also been hugely supportive, with Colin
the Assistant Course Manager at Crail and a past club Champion. Colin
also provides a valued role in the current junior section and played his
part in helping the
McKay team – himself, Anna and Ben – win the Scottish Hydro Scramble
event at Pitlochry last year.
Ben,
14, plays off a five handicap and is member of the Scottish Golf
Academy. He shared the success of Finals Day on Sunday with Anna,
winning the Junior Match Play Championship after amassing multiple
trophy wins this year, including
a Men’s singles match play event.
Commenting on her win, Anna said: “I
had to play my best golf to get to the final. The games were all really
hard. I’m really pleased to have won and it was great that Ben won on
the same day.”
Club
Matchplay champion and lifelong Crail member, Murray Herd, remarked on
the McKay siblings success in his winner’s speech, stating that the 2015
Finals Day “will go down in history for Crail Golfing Society. We, as
club members, are
all very proud of Anna and Ben and look forward to seeing them
develop.”
Last
month, McKay savoured the chance of a lifetime when she was one of
three youngsters invited by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to play in
the Scottish Government team in the Pro-Am which preceded the European
Tour event at Gullane.
The
First Minister asked ClubGolf to choose the players, who were invited
to a star-studded reception at Edinburgh Castle the evening before the
event where she revealed they would be playing with US Open winner and
Ryder Cup star McDowell.
On
completing the round, McDowell said: “We had a really fun day at the
Pro-Am at the Scottish Open. It is great to see the legacy from The
Ryder Cup and great for the development of golf in Scotland and I wish
them all the best.”
Labels: Girls
