Forres golfer and Scottish Alliance champion Matty Wilson wants future professional career after blitz of birdies and an eagle at Castle Stuart Golf Club to win North District title
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A PROFESSIONAL golf career could be the next step for Matty Wilson after a memorable year on the Scottish amateur circuit.
Forres golfer Wilson (21) won last month’s SG North District Matchplay Championship at the iconic Castle Stuart course which has hosted the Scottish Open on the European Tour in recent years.
Wilson was staring defeat in the face when he was four down after seven holes, before he produced an incredible run of four birdies and an eagle to go six under for his final eight holes, securing a 3 and 1 success.
The former Forres Academy pupil also won the North District Strokeplay event at Moray Golf Club, completing a north double and also winning the under-21 prize for the competition.
He also won Moray’s five-day open in the summer at his first attempt, and achieved national glory when he won the Scottish Alliance Championship at Portlethen, having won the North Alliance event.
“Castle Stuart was awesome, you probably take it for granted because it’s so close and I play it a bit but it is a very good course,” he said.”I had to play well in the final when I was four down, but from the tenth to the 17th I was six under, and I eagled the 12th.
“It’s been a good year. I’ve won pretty much everything there is to win up in the north and I had a decent few results in my national events as well so I’ve been happy with that.”
Wilson, who plays off plus-four, has received coaching from PGA professional Geoff Loughrey, who took him on a training camp to Ireland last week and is planning a similar venture in Spain in January.
The ultimate goal for Wilson is to turn professional but he has been advised to bide his time and play more amateur golf before taking the big step towards making a living out of his sport.
“I am going to try and turn professional in the next couple of years,” he said.
“My coach advises me to wait a while, I want to do it soon but I don’t think I am good enough to start making much money yet.
“I think I will try within the next two years and see how far I can get.
“I want to give it a go. It is something I am definitely going to try and hopefully I can be good at it.”
Wilson was brought up in Leeds and says he played golf as soon as he was old enough to pick up a club, as his father, grandfather and older brother also played the sport.
His father originally comes from Forres and took the family north to Moray when Wilson was 14.
“I started taking it a bit more seriously once I moved up here from the age of 16. I played other sports but I focused on my golf.
He is a member at Forres and Moray and plans to join Nairn as well next year.
