Australian teenager Cameron John showed the production line of talent from Down Under shows no signs of stalling as he breezed to an impressive victory in the Carrick Neill Scottish Open Strokeplay at Gullane.
The 17-year-old from the Commonwealth club on the famous sandbelt in Melbourne smashed the amateur record for the No 1 course with a faultless 63 in the third round to take him top of the leaderboard, and a final round 68 slammed the door on his pursuers including favourite Grant Forrest, who had briefly tied the lead in the final round.
John, the Victorian State champion, closed out his victory – with a hugely impressive 15-under total of 269, four ahead of Forrest and Ireland’s Stuart Grehan – in familiar fashion with a brilliant birdie on the 18th.
“I remember watching Rickie Fowler close out his Scottish Open victory here last year with a birdie, so it was great to do the same,” said the tall teenager, but his finish was actually very different to the American’s.
John hit a classic links shot, a knockdown pitching wedge from 110 yards out, barely rising ten feet off the ground to land within a couple of feet of the flag.
“I was joking that I must be a true born Scotsman if I can play a shot like that,” he said. “To be honest the only place I’ve played that is really like this course is Royal Melbourne where you have to play the slopes so much.
“I felt really relaxed all day; it was lucky I was drawn today with my friend Zach Murray who is from the same club in Melbourne and so it was just like a friendly game back home.”
Eight birdies and no bogeys in the morning had him leap into the lead and although Forrest’s blistering start including two birdies and an eagle made up ground, John stayed cool under pressure and his own eagle at the long 12th, holing from 30 feet off the back of the green, calmed him for the closing stretch.
This was his third senior win in six months, following his own state championship and the Argentina Amateur, and his trip backed by Golf Australia will take him to the top events in Europe and then eight more in the USA.
“They’ve been fantastic and I have a 4000 Australian dollar grant from them which I’m using for this trip,” he said.
Tiger Woods rather than Jason Day or Adam Scott is his hero, although “having an Aussie as World No 1 is definitely something I admire and something to aim at,” he added.
Forrest raced out in the final round but was stalled when he carved his tee shot left going for the green at the short par four seventh, finding a near unplayable lie and taking a double bogey six.
“That’s losing two shots when you’re really looking at gaining two,” he said. “I just hit a few poor drives this afternoon, threw in some bad numbers and it was a bit of a rollercoaster.
“When I reached the 15th I saw that Cameron had finished 15-under and there was no catching him. I’m encouraged though, that’s the best I’ve hit my irons in quite a while and I’m looking forward to getting to St Andrews for the Links Trophy next week.”
Grehan finished with a final round 66 to split up a group of Scots lying in the top five, former Boys champion Craig Howie (Peebles) alone in fourth on ten-under while Drumoig’s Connor Syme shot 65-69 in the final 36 holes to charge up to fifth.
Sandy Scott, the Scottish Boys’ Strokeplay champion from Nairn, had been co-leader after 36 holes and still managed a creditable ninth place finish despite a one-over 72 in the final round.
