Andrew McArthur targets big season

Andrew McArthur insists he is determined that 2014 will be the season that he shakes off his ‘nearly man of Scottish golf’ tag once and for all.

A solitary season on the European Tour in 2010 is all that the Lanark-born man has to show for eight years as a professional. The rest of the time, he has been banging wilfully on the door of the circuit but to no real avail.

Last season, for example, he finished 26th on the Challenge Tour rankings and, therefore, narrowly outside the card-winning spots for the main tour.

However, the 34-year-old is determined that this will be the year that he finally puts that right.

“I’m getting kind of tired of hitting the crossbar,” admitted McArthur, as he was announced as a member of Team Scottish Hydro for 2014. “I just really need to use this year to push on and see where it takes me.

“I’ve had spells where I’ve played well but I just haven’t played well enough in the right tournaments. My game goes and up and down too much and that’s something I need to fix.”

“There’s every chance I might not have been able to keep playing” – Andrew McArthur

This is Andrew McArthur’s third and final season receiving the support from Scottish Hydro and he says that it has been invaluable to him over the past two years.

“It just allows to prepare properly – and that’s the key,” he said. “For example, if I’ve got a gap between events, the support allows me to go to my next tournament maybe four or five days early and get in some proper, warm-weather practice.”

McArthur admitted that, without the support of Team Scottish Hydro, he might have struggled to continue to fund playing on tour full-time.

“There’s every chance I might not have been able to keep playing,” he said. “It could have been like living on the breadline, especially with support being ever more difficult to come by over the past few years. For companies in a position to offer support, it is a great thing to do to have themselves more out there but in this climate it is often the first thing to go, which hard to take at times. That’s why the support of Team Scottish Hydro has come in so important.”

Andrew McArthur & Team Scottish Hydro

For more information on Andrew McArthur and the rest of the 2014 Team Scottish Hydro line-up, pick up issue 130 of bunkered, on-sale next week from all good newsagents.

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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor

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