Scotland’s Wallace Booth said that he is drawing inspiration from the recent success of his sister, Carly, in the ladies’ game after an opening round of 66 put him into contention at the Scottish Hydro Challenge hosted by Macdonald Hotels and Resorts.
Booth has had a tough time of late, having been out of the game for 18 months after a shoulder injury which eventually required surgery, but a five under par round in difficult conditions at Macdonald Spey Valley Golf Club gave him exactly the boost he needed.
His younger sister Carly has been setting the world of ladies’ golf in Europe alight recently with two victories in as many months, including a home win at the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open.
And Wallace Booth has admitted that watching his 20 year old sister enjoy so much joy has given him some encouragement to push on after a debilitating injury.
“Absolutely, she’s giving me some inspiration”, said Booth after his opening round. “She’s been doing fantastic and it’s always going to spur me on to practice harder and do better but I have to remember that I'm just back after 18 months or so out of golf completely so it’s still early days.
“The last thing I'm trying to do is put too much pressure on myself but I did a better job in the first round. I had a shoulder operation eventually in April of last year, but I stopped playing around April the year before.
“This is my eighth tournament so I'm starting to get some rounds under my belt and I'm not having any trouble so it’s pretty good. I'm obviously working hard to keep it loose and not let it tighten up but thankfully it’s been very good.
“If I didn’t get something done I wouldn’t have been able to play because when I stopped in January 2011 I couldn’t even hold a golf club in a set-up position so it was pretty bad at that point.
“It was tough because you start wondering if you’ll ever get back playing but I'm just grateful I'm back and so far so good and long may it continue.”
