Eric McIntosh may not have been heralded as the next big thing in Scottish golf when he arrived in the North East for the Scottish Boys Championship, but there was no questioning his merit as champion.
The 17-year-old from the Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society played some of the best golf of the week at Murcar Links in consistently challenging conditions, and certainly the best of Saturday’s final in beating Lewis Irvine 2 and 1.
The unseeded McIntosh rattled off five birdies in the blustery afternoon session to keep the equally impressive Irvine at arm’s length and to claim the Lothians’ first boys title since Walker Cup star Grant Forrest in 2010.
It was a tight and tense final but McIntosh went ahead as early as the seventh hole and tenaciously defended that lead, never being mnore than two-up, all the way until Irvine ran out of holes at the 35th.
McIntosh, a member of the Scottish Golf Academy, finally closed it out by holing a 15-foot birdie putt after Irvine had burned the hole with a chip to stay alive and take it down the final hole.
“It feels amazing, I did not expect to be sitting here with the trophy this week,” he said. “It was a very tight match but I holed a lot of putts at crucial times which kept me a nice two-up cushion most of the time and it was a great feeling to sink the putt to win it.”
McIntosh has a Scottish cap but it’s for cricket at Under-15 level, but he stood up to everything thrown at him in a week of surprises in the winds and wet of Murcar. A scratch player, he has won to Bruntsfield junior titles and comes out of a strong junior section at Murrayfield Golf Club.
“It’s a long week, coming through eight ties to win, and beating Jamie Stewart, the third seed, in the fifth round was when I knew I could go all the way,” he continued.
“It’s by far the biggest success of my junior career, and I guess I’ve been quite low key as an amateur, but my coach David Patrick has really brought my golf along in the last two years so that has definitely helped.”
Patrick, another former Walker Cup player from the Lothians, has become on the country’s best coaches instrumental in the Lothians’ return to prominence in Scottish golf.
Morning play was by far the trickier, witness McIntosh’s unsteady start when a couple of early bogeys gave Irvine a two-hole advantage.
But the 16-year-old from Lanarkshire, a Scotland Under-16 cap, returned the favour with a series of bogeys of his own in the wind and wet to allow McIntosh to take control, the birdie two at the short eighth being the only one of the first 18 holes.
Things improved on the scorecard in the afternoon, although McIntosh gave Irvine an opening with a double bogey six on the third to reduce the two-up margin he enjoyed at lunch.
A 45-foot birdie putt at the 24th, however, settled McIntosh down again and he was able to answer every attack from Irvine therafter.
Irvine, who plays off a two handicap, said: “I’m happy with the week, especially in the final, I struck the ball well and got the putter going a wee bit.
“The only difference was Eric got two or three longer putts in the final round and that is your 2&1 margin.”
Irvine still has two more years, starting when the championship returns to the Monifieth Medal Links in 2017, to try and go one better.