USPGA - Ex 3-time Scottish Boys Champion Qualifies

One of the great things about the US PGA is that club pros can qualify for the event, and stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia.

One such player who has qualified to play at Whistling Straits this week, who you might not have heard of, has already played, and beaten, Sergio Garcia before.

Steven Young, a former Walker Cup player and three-times Scottish Boys champion, who is now a club pro based in the States, will line up at the final major of the season in Wisconsin.

Originally from near Fraserburgh, Scotland, he is now based in Midland, Texas where he is an assistant pro at the Midland Country Club. The last time he played in a major was the 1998 Open Championship, and he has now secured a place at this week’s US PGA by qualifying through the PGA Professional National championship at the Philadelphia Cricket Club where he finished 16th out of 312.

"I've got nothing to lose. I'm just going to play golf and what happens, happens."

At one stage in his career it looked as if the world was his oyster. He won the Scottish Boys an unparalleled three years in a row, a British Boys’ title, a Scottish Youths’ title and represented Scotland in the senior Home Internationals twice, the first time aged just 18. Oh yes and then there was that win against Garcia in a European youth international match.

After turning pro he had a spell on the European Challenge Tour before returning to Midland where he had previously enjoyed a golf scholarship. He just missed out on making the US Tour, and then settled down to life as a club pro and married an American girl he had met at college. They now have three young children.

In an interview with Channel 7 News last month Steven said, “It’s kind of fun to have this experience again, but I’m in a different place in my life. It is all about my kids and my wife – golf is secondary.”

"Seventeen years ago, I was starting my career in golf, thinking that was what I was going to do my whole life and, now that it's taken a back seat, the competitive side of me, to have this opportunity to go and play against these boys again is awesome.”

The course this week might just suit his Scottish roots. Good luck Steven, we’ll be hollering for you.