The sons of two famous Scottish sporting stars will lock horns in the first round of next week’s Scottish Boys’ Championship at Murcar Links.
The draw for the seven-round marathon to the prestigious boys’ title has pitched Michael Lawrie, younger son of former Open champion Paul against Thomas Boyd, son of ex-Scotland and Celtic defender Tom in Monday’s opening round.
Boyd, from the Bothwell Castle club and a four-handicapper, is a firm underdog against Lawrie, a scratch player at Deeside and in his final year of eligibility for the premier national event for under-18s.
“Obviously I don’t have Paul’s skills in being able to pass on knowledge to my son as he will have done to Michael, but I’ve been there for a number of years now supporting Thomas and I’ll be doing the same at Murcar,” Boyd Sr said.
“Thomas will certainly be the underdog, but it’s the same scenario as football. When it comes to matchplay it’s about who turns up on the day so all those football clichs, you can use in golf too.
“But unlike the game I used to play, you are on your own. There are no Henrik Larssons to score the goals and bail you out!”
Lawrie, who has watched both his sons play their years through the championship elder son Craig is already a professional agreed that matchplay could go either way.
“Michael hasn’t played much or done much work on his game recently as he’s been studying hard for his exams, but I know he’s looking forward to the Scottish Boys, as he always does.”
Michael made his debut in the championship four years ago at Murcar, which hosts the Boys’ for a fourth time.
A field of 234 players for the first time in some years the full field of 256 hasn’t been reached representing 129 clubs will tee up in the 75th staging of the Scottish Boys.
They will be seeking to emulate a list of past champions including Andrew Coltart, Scott Henry and David Law, as well as GB&I Walker Cup players Grant Forrest and Ewen Ferguson.
Favourites include Scottish Schools champion Darren Howie, whose elder brother Craig won the title at Murcar four years ago, and last year’s beaten finalist Ross Callan.
Champion Will Porter (Carnoustie) is no longer age-eligible.
The probable favourite is Nairn’s Sandy Scott, winner of the Junior Series opener just last week.