Promising young Midlands professionals Krystle Caithness, Gavin Dear and Calum Macaulay are among the first four players to be given financial and logistical backing for their careers from the Holyrood-backed Scottish Golf Support.
Caithness, from Cellardyke, Scone’s Dear and Tulliallan’s Macaulay join Glasgow’s Kylie Walker as the first four to get a share of the £1 million funding package from the Scottish Government over the next five years designed to assist Scotland’s best young amateur players excel in the professional game and help bridge the “am-to-pro gap” where several top Scottish prospects have struggled in recent years.
The quartet will get around £25,000 each in tailored support from Scottish Golf Support, a body formed from representatives of sportscotland, the Scottish Golf Union, Scottish Ladies’ Golfing Association and the Professional Golfers’ Association.
It is a project two years in the making and will encompass not only financial help but access to coaching and sports science support, utilising the Scottish amateur game’s development programmes and the coaching expertise of the PGA.
Graeme Simmers, the former R&A championship committee chairman who now chairs the new body, welcomed the boost the four players will receive through the new programme.
“I am delighted to announce our support of Krystle, Kylie, Callum and Gavin, all of whom have fantastic potential to become leading players on their respective professional tours,” he said. “They have already demonstrated their capability and with the additional support will be well equipped to fulfil their ambitions.”
The four all meet the minimum requirements of having full playing rights on the European Challenge Tour or Ladies European Tour and having been professional for two full seasons or less.
Macaulay and Dear have also been named among six players on the Men’s Challenge Tour who are having their expenses paid this season as part of a deal backed by Scottish Hydro.
The total funding allocated to the SGU and SLGA last year amounted to £1,073,720, with £500,000 targeted in clubgolf, the national junior golf programme. The remainder will go to young pros over the five years of the project, with up to 10 players getting backing under contract to return a percentage of their earnings, based on a specified earnings threshold.
Ultimately they will repay all of the money invested by the programme in helping their early professional careers.