Minto golfer Tara Mactaggart sang the praises of her coach, Franck Scott, after enjoying the biggest victory of her amateur career by taking the Mackie Bowl at Gullane by four strokes.
The 21-year-old from Hawick is expected to move into the top five in the Scottish amateur ladies’ order of merit after an emphatic triumph made possible by a red-hot putter.
“It’s been going very well,” Tara told The Hawick Paper. “I’ve made nearly every cut this year, but that was the pinnacle of what me and my coach, Frank Scott, have been doing. He made it all come together.”
The former Hawick high and Denholm primary school pupil collected ten birdies and dropped just two shots over two rounds.
She set the target by going round in 69 and 71 for an impressive eight-under-par total of 140, and the other 37 players in the field were unable to get anywhere close.
“It tops the lot,” Tara said of her victory. “Everything was going in the middle of the hole. It’s true what people say, if it’s your day then it’s your day. The putting made the biggest difference. I was holing silly putts across greens.
“That’s probably the worst part of my game, but I’ve done so much work on it the last six months. To finally see the work pay off made me feel so good. I could see something changing for the better.
“I’m always there or thereabouts, but I’m rarely in the outright lead. So to win by four put the icing on the cake.”
Tara graduated on a golf scholarship from Stirling University last month, but attributes her improvement on the greens to the work she has been doing with her coach all year.
“I have a lesson every two weeks and I’m constantly sending him swing videos from wherever I am just to make sure everything is going to plan,” she explained “He comes and watches me at quite a few competitions as well. He is so involved. It is his win as much as my win because he has done so much for me.”
With dad Stuart carrying her bag, grandpa Bruce Mactaggart and mum Claire walking round in support, Tara felt at ease on what is a challenging links course.
“They all said that I was so in control and that nothing fazed me, even though it is such a hard golf course. I felt so comfortable. It felt easy for once. I thought nobody could catch me. It was an inner belief that I could do it.”
Tara is moving house to North Berwick this week starting a new job managing golf operations at Archerfield. On the course, her next big event is the British Amateur Strokeplay Championship at North
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