By Martin Dempster - The Scotsman
16-year-old Aidan Lawson beats an Open champion and Open Silver Medal winner by eight shots
Aidan
Lawson, one of Scottish golf’s rising stars, is hoping his eye-catching
start to 2026, having come out on top in a head-to-head battle with
both an Open champion and Open Silver Medal winner, is a sign of things
to come this year.
Not
for the first time, the 16-year-old, a Queensferry High School pupil
who is a member of Bruntsfield Links in Edinburgh, underlined his
potential during a warm weather training camp in Turkey organised by the
Paul Lawrie Foundation
Aidan Lawson pictured playing in The R&A Junior Open at Kilmarnock (Barassie) in 2024 | The R&A
Held at Gloria Golf Resort in Belek, the trip saw Lawson and fellow
up-and-coming players Cormac Sharpe, Fraser Brown, Kai Laing and Ollie
Robertson join 1999 Open champion Lawrie and Calum Scott, the 2024 Open
Silver Medal winner, for a mix of practice and competition play.
After
54 holes, Scott, who turned professional last year, led by a shot from
both Lawson and Lawrie on eight under before Lawson signed off with a
three-under 69 while Lawrie and Scott closed with scores of 77 and 78
respectively.
“I
played really well over the four rounds,” admitted Lawson, who only
found out about the trip just before Christmas but jumped at the chance.
“I only made six bogeys the whole week, kept it in play off the tee the
whole event and had 16 birdies.
‘Yeah, it was pretty sweet’
“It
felt really nice as I played with Paul and Calum the last two rounds.
When you are standing there on the first tee with an Open champion and a
guy who has won the Silver Medal, it can feel a bit daunting. But I got
off to good starts in both rounds and kept it and ended up winning by
eight shots. Yeah, it was pretty sweet!”
