THE North Inch Family Golf Centre was host to the first US Kids Junior Golf Introductory Open Tournament to be held outside of the United States, reports Gordon Bannerman.Colin Roberts, North Inch golf professional and Tournament Director, said: “This was indeed an historic day for North Inch and I hope this will be the first of many such tournaments flying the US Kids Golf Foundation banner. “We hope to find some talented players who will participate in next year's European Junior Championships at Gullane, representing Scotland.”Alongside Colin, a team of volunteers helped to make this a memorable star spangled experience for the junior golfers. Parents and family members were encouraged to caddie for the juniors. For many it was their first visit to the historic Fair City course.There were 35 entrants for the tournament and they were divided into three groups, 7-9 years of age who played nine holes, 10-12 years and 13-14 years of age who played 18 holes.Colin said: “It was a pleasure to witness the high degree of professionalism shown by all participants in both dress and behaviour, and it was great to see spectators supporting this event.”Everyone played to the best of their ability and the winners amongst the girls and boys in each category, received an engraved plaque, kindly donated by Perth and Kinross Council Community Greenspace Parks Events. Steven McIvor, area manager for Nevada Bobs gave each winner a £20 gift voucher. Nick Randerson of St Andrews, who was the course director, arranged the prize-giving and Euna Scott, principal environmental initiatives officer for PKC kindly presented the prizes to the winners.The winners of each category were: Caelan Laesecke in Girls 7 - 9 years, Aidan O'Hagan in Boys 7 - 9 years, Megan Thom in Girls 10 - 12 years, Keith Bowman who beat Alex Simpson in a count-back in Boys 10 - 12 years and Andrew Gibson in Boys 13 - 14 years. Sadly no girls participated in this category.“We plan on holding the next tournament in September,” said Colin. “And I will be running US Kids Golf junior learning programmes throughout the summer holidays starting next Thursday.“If anyone is interested in either the tournament in September or the junior learning programmes, please contact me on 07933704447.”reports Gordon Bannerman.Read
