Dispatch Trophy 'bug' biting youngsters in 125th edition at Braids
Seven-time winner hails start of new era for historic team tournamant
Seven-time winner Allyn Dick has been delighted to see lots of youngsters getting bitten by the Dispatch Trophy “bug” in the event’s 125th edition at the Braids.
The Edinburgh Leisure-run tournament reaches the quarter-final phase on Thursday night and a new era of players seems to have been unearthed in the milestone staging.
A team of teenagers representing the Stephen Gallacher Foundation, for example, have made it through to the last eight, where they are taking on Heriot’s FP.
In last Saturday’s opening round, a full team of 19-year-olds - Andrew Hendry (Gullane), Jake Johnston (Royal Burgess), Callum Kenneally (Dunbar) and Dylan Cairns (Rowallan Castle) - got the job done against Turnhouse.
Then, against BBT, another Turnhouse team, on Tuesday, Hendry, Johnston and Cairns were joined by Alexander Yuill, a 16-year-old who also plays his golf at Dunbar.
In another change for their next match, West Lothian 19-year-old Rory McClafferty is coming in to join forces with Johnston, Yuill and Kenneally.
Archie Wyatt, another promising youngster who is just back from the US at the end of the college season, is playing as well for Murrayfield while Edinburgh Academicals are also being represented by a “young team”.
Both those teams are still standing as well as the event, which is being sponsored by Golf Finance and Braid Hills Golf Centre, reaches the business end.
“It’s great to see so many youngsters this year getting the Dispatch Trophy bug, just as I did when I first played in it for Carrickvale,” said Dick, who is now on duty for Duddingston.
“It becomes contagious and seeing these young lads playing for the likes of the Stephen Gallacher Foundation and Murrayfield is what it is all about.”
The young players have also attracted followers, with Stuart Johnston, who helps run the Stephen Gallacher Foundation along with Scott Knowles, and his wife Tracey having been out watching their two games.
Johnston is a gold medal winner himself, having been part of a triumphant Carrick Knowe team in 1999, while his dad Bobby was a proud member of the Dispatch Trophy committee for a long time.
“I don’t think I’ve seen it as busy around the first tee and out on the course at any time I’ve played in it and that is also brilliant to see,” observed Dick.
Having already knocked out Silverknowes B in the second round, Edinburgh Accies now take on six-time winners Silverknowes.
North Berwick member Peoples is teaming up with brothers Angus and Hugo Rintoul, both of whom are Bruntsfield Links members, as is Fraser Simpson, who came in on Tuesday night for Iain Smith.
Playing in different matches, the Rintouls both drove the seventh green - Angus knocking his effort to 12 feet and Hugo then hitting his to ten feet.
Bidding to become the first team since Carrickvale did the trick just under 20 years ago to claim three trophy triumphs in a row, Duddingston didn’t get it their own way in their Tuesday tussle with Kilgour Property.
“It was incredibly tight,” admitted Dick, who was reunited in the top match with last month’s runaway Craigmillar Park Open winner Jamie Duguid but ended all square against Gus Santana and David Downing.
At the back, though, former Lothians champion David Miller and Craig Pirie just got the better of John Shepherd and Adam Heslop.
Third-round ties
4.30pm Kilgour Wealth Management v Hailes
4.50pm Heriot’s v Stephen Gallacher Foundation
5.10pm Edinburgh Academicals v Silverknowes
5.30pm Murrayfield v Duddingston