Golf guru and Rangers hero brother hoping for more success at Scottish Open
Swing maestro Jamie Gough is racking up the titles and could land a stunning 36th success of his coaching career at the Genesis Scottish Open.
The golf guru, who is the brother of former Scotland, Rangers and Dundee United football star Richard, is steering home heroes Connor Syme and Ewen Ferguson into their Renaissance bid and he's already been on the scoresheet plenty this term.
Syme's success at the KLM Open, his first on the DP World Tour, last month was a major moment for the Fifer and also another notch for Gough. The master coach also worked with New Zealander Ryan Fox, who has landed two titles on the PGA Tour this season.
Another Gough charge Haotong Li, whom he spent plenty time with on the Renaissance range on Monday, also hit the winners circle in Qatar. In total, the coach has been part of 35 Tour wins in a fabulous career, but he modestly smiled: 'I've been fortunate. I've worked worked with a lot of good players, so it's enjoyable.
'Last year I ended up doing 38 events on both sides and tried to do both tours. And at the beginning of this year I did the first 11 of 12 events and I did most of them in America. And then I came back, had a few health issues and I decided not to do America after a while. More just needed some rest, really, you know. But a lot of tests and strong as an ox. So I've just been out on Europe and it's been great. The boys have done well.
'It was brilliant to see Conor win. Haotong, nice to see him getting his confidence back because he went off the boil for a few years, but he's coming back nicely. Essentially, I had a nice sort of four-year run with him [Fox]. With me not going back to America, it's not going to be ideal for us to work together. But you always feel vested in what a player does if you spend some time with him. Ewan's had a nice couple of solid weeks and is starting to play well again.'
Gough loves being at the Renaissance and said: 'Almost my favourite of the year because it's just a brilliant place to be and the course is good. Sunshine, it's unusual, probably won't last this week, but we'll see. Apparently it's supposed to be good, so it should be good. 'I'll be here until Sunday. Go to Portrush on Monday.'
He's hoping one of the stars he works with can lift the title before he departs for Northern Ireland and, although not at Renaissance, he does have a Scottish Open title on the CV from seven years ago just along the road at Gullane. He said: 'I'd love that to happen, yeah. This would be a great one. I've won this one before with Brandon Stone. He seems to be on a track coming back. he's a nice young player.'
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