Golf club toasts rookie's PGA success

Players at one of the world’s oldest golf clubs were today toasting the success of Volvo PGA champion Scott Drummond.

Members of Burntisland Golf House Club in Fife raised a glass to toast the success of the player, whose father George used to play at the Scottish coastal town club.

Scott Drummond was ranked 435th in the world and was originally on the reserve list before clinching the 50th Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth yesterday.

It was his first appearance at the biggest European golfing event after the Open. The only other man who won the PGA at his first attempt was Arnold Palmer.

Burntisland Golf House Club’s general manager Wendy Taylor said his father, George Drummond, had been a member for “many years” before moving to Shrewsbury, where Scott was born.

“George was a very low handicap golfer and played here from when he was a boy - around 10 or 11, I think.

“He was one of the top guys at the club, but moved away about 30 years ago.

“The way they’re speaking about him in the lounge this morning, he is well-remembered and there is quite a bit of camaraderie going on because they knew him.”

She said his mother – Scott’s grandmother – was no longer alive, but his brothers Bill and Marshall still lived in Burntisland.

William Adamson, 75, was one of George’s former comrades at the golf club and at the British Aluminium Company (BAC) in the town.

“I knew him as a player at the club and also as a fitter at the aluminium works,” he said today.

“I was a bit older than him and played against him once or twice in ties.

“He was a pretty competitive golfer, but was a decent guy who mixed socially and liked having a crack with the boys.”

Speaking from the club about Scott’s largest win to date – which saw him scoop £420,000 (€631,500)– Mr Adamson, who used to work as a boiler maker at BAC, said: “It’s certainly a great achievement for his laddie.

"Everyone at the club house is quite excited and one or two people have come up to me and said: ‘Hasn’t George’s son done well?’

Burntisland Golf House Club is believed to be the 11th-oldest golf club in the world.

Situated in Fife – traditionally acclaimed as the home of golf – the club now plays over Dodhead Links, which overlooks the Forth Estuary, with views over to Edinburgh and the Pentland Hills.

Scott, who plays for Scotland despite being born south of the border and living in Devon, graduated from the Challenge Tour last year and was a reserve for the Volvo PGA tournament.

Lying fourth reserve at the close of entries, he found out just days before the start of the 50th championship that he was in the field, following the withdrawal of England’s Greg Owen through injury.

It has been a busy time for the professional, who won the tournament with a 19 under par total of 269.

He celebrated his 30th birthday on Saturday and became a father for the first time a month ago.

Prior to the win, his total earnings on the European Tour from his previous 26 events amounted to £40,000 (€60,100), but this week he earned £419,778 (€631,200) when he became the first rookie to win the Volvo PGA Championship and only the second player to make the event his maiden European Tour victory.

In the process, he also earned a five-year exemption to the European Tour until the end of 2009, as well as automatic entry for the 133rd Open Championship at Royal Troon in July and the World Golf Championships the following month.