Major junior golf event at Fortrose and Rosemarkie is called off
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Junior Tour Scotland has been forced to cancel its competition at Fortrose and Rosemarkie Golf Club next week due to different coronavirus restriction levels being implemented across the country.
But organisers have announced the tournament will still take place and has been rearranged for Sunday, March 14.
The course was set to host 97 of the top young players from across the country next Sunday in the latest event on the tour.
But as a result of coronavirus restrictions, where different areas of the country have been placed in different tiers, it was decided to call off the event.
Junior Tour Scotland co-ordinator Paul Gibson says they felt it was the only decision they could come to.
“After consultation with Scottish Golf Limited and looking at the Government guidelines, it would be inappropriate to go ahead with the event,” he said.
“This was due to the difficulty of people being involved in different tier structures.
“We didn’t want to put anybody’s health at risk or put anybody in doubt if they should or should not travel.
“Players were coming from across the country with some in tier one, some in tier two and some in tier three.
“When you find yourself in that situation, it is best to try and find an alternative date when hopefully things will settle down better than they are just now.”
Junior Tour Scotland works with the Barrie Douglas Foundation, Stephen Gallagher Foundation and the Paul Lawrie Foundation to put on winter events for young golfers.
Gibson says the Junior Tour was impressed with how Fortrose and Rosemarkie Golf Club were preparing to host the event.
He says as a result they were determined to rearrange the tournament at the course for a future date due to the support they have received.
“We can’t compliment secretary Mike MacDonald enough for his incredible support in trying to accommodate the competition with such a large number of entrants,” he said.
“To have 97 kids from across the country wanting to play a golf event in November in a remote part of Scotland is fantastic.
“Kids from the north of Scotland have been supportive to the junior tour.
“In days gone by golfers from the north used to travel to the central belt for events.
“When the junior tour started up, I wanted to take it north, south, east and west of the country.
“That is what we’re doing to give everybody the chance as we want to be inclusive rather than exclusive.
“The north is in our plans for the next few years.”
