Sixteen-year-old Perthshire golfer Connor Graham wins Scottish Men's Open

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Sixteen-year-old Perthshire golfer Connor Graham produced a blistering final round to be crowned Scottish Men’s Open champion on Sunday.The talented youngster, from Blairgowrie, hit a closing seven under par 63 to surge clear at the top of the leaderboard at Meldrum House.Earlier rounds of 67, 67 and 68 had provided the ideal platform for the rising star who is continuing to go from strength to strength.Connor impressively finished the tournament on 15 under par, four clear of second-placed Atlin Van Der Merwe of South Africa.Among those to send their congratulations was 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie.“It feels great,” Connor said after the fantastic triumph. “This is the first big amateur win and it was great to play as well as I did.“A key highlight was shooting that 63 to finish, I played really good from start to finish.“During the tournament it’s taken a lot of patience, a lot of good shots – that’s my approach to the course.

I definitely hit my irons and wedges well this week.”The Scottish Men’s Open win is the latest achievement in a growing list for Walker Cup and Junior Ryder Cup hopeful Connor.

Last year he was crowned R&A Junior Open champion.He is always a familiar face at the practice area of Blairgowrie Golf Club and those hours of dedication are clearly paying off.“Meldrum has been a fantastic golf course and they’ve got it set up really nicely,” Connor went on to add.“I’m a first Scottish champion in a few years, so it feels really good.

Work hard, put in the hours and eventually you’ll be competing at top level.”In the opening rounds, Connor had been battling it out at the top of the leaderboard with his older brother Gregor.They had sat at the summit of the standings together heading into Sunday’s