Walker Cup and Junior Ryder Cup star Connor Graham will be one of the high profile international stars teeing it up at next month’s Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open Championship in County Sligo Golf Club.
Graham is one of 45 overseas players travelling to Rosses Point having burst onto the scene last year.
The Scot won the Scottish Men’s Open Championship last year which paved the way for a call up to the 49th Walker Cup contest at St Andrews for Great Britain and Ireland while he also played a starring role in the victorious European side in the Junior Ryder Cup in Marco Simone last September.
The talented teenager become the youngest-ever player in Walker cup history aged just 17 and was unbeaten in the Junior Ryder Cup, including when he partnered Roganstown starlet Sean Keeling.
The pair came back from six down through nine holes to heroically snatch a half point for Europe.
Graham and Keeling will link up again in Texas Tech later this year.
The Blairgowrie star will be joined in the field by his older brother Gregor.
The young Scot has been nursing his way back into competitive golf after battling a stress fracture in his right hand which has curtailed the start of his season, missing out on some Scottish team selections in the process.
Billed as “the next big thing” in Scottish Golf by Junior Ryder Cup captain, Stephan Gallacher, Graham it will be worth the Sligo local’s time to venture out and catch a glimpse of his rising star in May.
“He is a great kid,” Gallacher told BBC Scotland in Rome.
“He won my under-12 event at ten years old believe it or not at Gogarburn. I still have the picture in the house so I’ve known Connor since he was a nipper.
“He has a great family. His brother is a good player, as is his father. When he got in the Walker Cup, he just missed out on automatic qualification for this event as he was playing in a division slightly above so it was an easy pick.
“I knew he would perform. I picked him first every day. Two wins and two halves. He is an unbelievable talent. He is going to be the next big thing in Scotland without putting too much weight on his shoulders.
“I hate doing that to young kids. He is still a little bit raw but once he can round himself off he will be a force to reckon with. He has everything you need to be the modern golfer.”
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