Sir Alex Ferguson led the tributes to Paul Lawrie as the former Open Champion and European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie received Lifetime Achievement Awards at Friday’s XOS Scottish Golf Awards in Glasgow.
Lawrie and Montgomerie became the first recipients of the Scottish Golf Union’s Lifetime Achievement Awards as they joined ten other prize winners from the amateur game in front of a sell-out crowd of 460 guests at Glasgow’s Crowne Plaza Hotel.
The Manchester United manager recorded a special video message paying tribute to Lawrie’s career and in particular the work with his Junior Foundation, which celebrates its tenth year in 2011, much to the surprise of an emotional Lawrie.
“The personal video tribute was a fantastic gesture from Sir Alex who has always been very supportive of me throughout my career and capped a superb evening. It was nice to be presented with my Award by my fellow professional Alastair Forsyth and I also appreciated the video messages from Stephen Gallacher and David Law,” he said.
“The Scottish Golf Union did a great job in organising the event and I hope the presence of Colin and I can help inspire the next generation of young golfers to more Scottish success in the future. There’s some good talent coming through and with the support from the likes of Aberdeen Asset Management and Scottish Hydro in place I’m sure we’ll start to see the benefits.” he added.
Montgomerie was presented with his Award from PGA Chief Executive Sandy Jones and Aberdeen Asset Management’s Stephen Docherty, while the eight-time European Tour Order of Merit champion was on hand to present Scotland’s leading female amateur golfer Kelsey MacDonald with her prize.
“I was thrilled to receive my Award from Colin Montgomerie and it’s fantastic to see our leading professionals supporting the amateur game so much. Last year was a great season for me individually as well as for the Scotland Ladies team so it was good to be recognised for our achievements,” said the SLGA Order of Merit winner.
“Hopefully I can continue to progress in 2011 and keep building towards my goal of playing in the GB&I Curtis Cup in my home town of Nairn next year.” added MacDonald.
MacDonald joined her victorious Scottish Ladies Home Internationals team-mates to receive the Team of the Year from former Scotland rugby captains Gavin Hastings and Andy Nicol with Blairgowrie youngster Bradley Neil picking up the Developing Talent award from Lawrie.
Palacerigg’s Frank Anderson took the honours in the inaugural Volunteer of the Year Award category for his efforts in increasing the club’s junior section from 7 members to more than seventy, receiving a £400 sponsorship for his club from Xerox Office Solutions, while Orkney were awarded the Junior Club of the Year in recognition of their work in growing the game.
Other winners were: Conor O’Neil (Pollok) – SGU Boys Order of Merit; Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm) – SLGA Girls Order of Merit; Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) – SGU Order of Merit; James Byrne (Banchory) – SGU Amateur Golfer of the Year; Tony Stafford (Dun Ochil) – SGU Seniors Order of Merit.
The XOS Scottish Golf Awards were sponsored by Xerox Office Solutions and event partners Aberdeen Asset Management.
Scottish Golf Union www.scottishgolf.org