Former World number one tips Scottish golf prodigy everybody is raving about to go all the way
Lee Westwood has handed a glowing commendation to Scots kid Connor Graham.
The Perthshire teenager made his Open debut at Royal Portrush having come through qualifying at Dundonald.
Unfortunately for Graham, he did not manage to make the cut, but the former World No.1 sees the talent in the youngster who is 34 years his junior.
Westwood played alongside Graham for 36 holes during the Ayrshire qualifier and poured praise onto the kid as he assessed the new breed of young guns making their way in golf.
He said: 'Really impressed. I'd say over the last couple of weeks with the qualifying and then the practice rounds, I've seen some really good young talent in the qualifying.
'Connor Graham from Scotland, a couple of good lads from Charlotte, UNC. Some great young players, which I'm not surprised about. There's so many good young players now, but they've come through the qualifying.'
Graham's fellow Scots amateur Cameron Adam also missed the cut with Daniel Young as Bob MacIntyre remained Scotland's sole weekend representative.
But Adam believes the experience will count for plenty and said: 'I can compete at this kind of level. To be able to turn up here and not have my A game and kind of come this close to making the cut kind of just proves to me that, if I played well, I would be right up there. That's the biggest positive I've got to take.
'I've gone out and tried and I've just not quite performed to my peak. That happens. It's difficult to really control that.
'The biggest thing is confidence. I've come here and been able to handle it with all the emotions. That's the biggest thing about coming to a stage like this for the first time, like how I felt on the first tee, just getting there and playing in that position, it's something you can't really put a value on. That's got to be the biggest positive I can take from this.
'I just try to stick to my normal self and keep to my routines and trust that that's what's got me here. It's more than good enough to compete here.
'Again, you feel different things out on a stage like that than you could ever feel anywhere else. It's just kind of dealing with that, those feelings within your body, whether it's the butterflies in the stomach or the shaky legs.
'It's just learning little techniques on how to deal with that and be able to hit shots when it happens because it's going to happen. Everyone's human. People get nervous. Learning different techniques that I can deal with that in those situations is going to do me good going forward.'
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