Scottish champion Oliver Mukherjee close to carding magical 59 at Craigielaw

Scottish Amateur champion Oliver Mukherjee narrowly missed out on a magical 59 at Craigielaw as he produced an eye-catching performance at the East Lothian venue.

Oliver Mukherjee in action in his title triumph in last year's Scottish Amateur Championship at Gailes Links in Ayrshire. Picture: Scottish Golf.

Playing in the second round of a 54-hole event on the 9Zero Foundation circuit, he shaved the edge of the hole with a 15-foot eagle putt at the last, but it was still a round to remember.

His 11-under-par 60 doesn’t constitute a course record due to the fact it was on a winter layout, but, putting it into context, the effort was three shots lower than the official record.

Mukherjee followed an opening birdie with an eagle at the par-5 second before adding gains at the third, fourth, seventh and ninth to be out in 28. Coming home, he then picked up shots at the 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 18th.

Oliver Mukherjee's card from his spectacular round at Craigielaw.

“I’m fortunate that I live quite close to Craigielaw and I’ve played the course probably thousands of times,” he said. “Fortunately for me on this occasion, I managed to hit a lot of good shots and managed to capitalise on it by making a lot of putts.

“I did a pretty good job of staying present and it was very easy as I was playing with my brothers, so it felt very normal. My putt at the last was a little bit off the left and it didn’t quite turn enough, but it was still a good effort.”

He’d trailed one of his brothers, Sam, after an opening one-under 69, but, after following his 60 with a closing 67 at Craigielaw, Mukherjee won by a resounding 13 shots.

Both Ollie and Sam have committed to play golf at Duke University in North Carolina from August 2024 and, after finishing up at Loretto School, they will spend their gap year playing in top amateur events.

“Huge credit to their coach, Fintan Bonner, and the new Director of Golf at Loretto, Adam McKinlay, who continue to mentor, coach and inspire the boys,” said dad Robin.

Cameron, the youngest of the three golfing brothers, also has something to celebrate after breaking into the top 500 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for the first time.