Castle Douglas golfing pals win trip of a lifetime to The Masters

David McBeth, Chris Anderson, Iain McIntyre and Sean Gilchrist came out on top Golf Scotland’s US Masters Texas Scramble competition

Four pals from Castle Douglas have won the trip of a lifetime to one of the world’s most famous golf tournaments.

David McBeth, Chris Anderson, Iain McIntyre and Sean Gilchrist came out on top in Golf Scotland’s US Masters Texas Scramble competition.

And that has won the team an all-expenses paid trip to The Masters – one of golf’s four majors – at Augusta National in April.

David said: “I think it’ll be the biggest prize in amateur golf.

“It’s an all-expenses paid trip – we get tickets for one day, a round of golf somewhere, accommodation and a hire car.

“It’s still not sunk in, people think we’re playing at The Masters but we’re not that good!”

The four qualified for the Scottish finals of the competition, which were held at Deer Park Golf Club a t Livingston.

And they held their nerve over the closing holes to see off their nearest rivals by 1.4 shots.

David explained: “If you’d looked at us on paper, we should never have won that day. We had one of the highest handicaps there but shot 10 under par.

“Everyone had to hit three drives and you had to nominate each person for a par three.

“Ian had a handicap of 22 or 24 and hit his shot at the par three straight into the side of the green – he was as white as a sheet before he played!

“With four holes to go, we still had a drive from Chris and Sean and my par three. Chris’ drive hit trees and bounced back into play and we used that.

“Sean then had two drives to get his away and said his knees were locking together.

“Then I had to stand on what was classed as our 18th, which was my par three, knowing we were 10 under par and couldn’t muck up.

“It’s a bit of a blur, all the way home we kept saying we couldn’t believe it.”

All four grew up in Castle Douglas but became golfing pals thanks to the annual memorial golf day for David’s brother Iain, who died in 2019.

David added: “Some of the boys only got back golfing because of that.

“Sean has only been back golfing for two or three years and I only got more friendly with Chris and Iain through that.

“It’s good to win with your close pals, have a laugh and not to take it seriously. I think when we realised how well we were doing the nerves started to kick in.

“We won our qualifier at Southerness, which is mine and Chris’ home course, and I was moaning we’d paid £25 to play our own course. It’s worked out alright in the end!”

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