Merchiston set for Home Internationals

• Merchiston at ISGA Home Internationals for first time in history
• “Proud to be Scotland’s representative,” said coach Alan Murdoch
• Golf has thrived at the Edinburgh school over the past four years

All eyes will be on Merchiston next weekend as they represent Scotland in the Independent Schools Golf Association Home Internationals for the first time in their history.

The Edinburgh school, ranked No.1 for golf in Scotland, take on England’s Whitgift, Monmouth from Wales and Ireland’s Campbell College in a two-day scratch stroke play event starting on Sunday, March 22.

Merchiston’s team for the competition in Wales is Morgan White, Angus Roberts, Andrew White and Alexander Muenker, with Sunday’s fourballs at former British Masters venue St Pierre Country Club, while the second rounds on Monday will take place at The Rolls of Monmouth GC (pictured below).

“We’re hoping the boys will compete to the best of their abilities and have a wonderful experience” – Merchiston coach Alan Murdoch

Next weekend will mark the first time that Merchiston has represented Scotland at the ISGA Home Internationals, and director of golf and coach at the school Alan Murdoch couldn’t be more proud of his team.

He said: “We are extremely proud to be Scotland’s representative and are thoroughly looking forward to the competition.

“We’re up against three other very good UK schools so we know it’ll be a challenge. However, anything is possible in golf and we’re hoping the boys will compete to the best of their abilities and have a wonderful experience.”

Merchiston qualified for the competition after being the highest-ranked Scottish team at last year’s ISGA Nationals final at Carnoustie, placing seventh overall.

Morgan White and Roberts both played at the Nationals, and they will be joined by Muenker and Andrew White next weekend, with the best three scores from the four players counting each day.

The team has come a long way since Murdoch started Merchiston’s golf academy in 2011 and, with 22 players now in the squad, he says there is a great golfing community at the school.

He said: “I’ve got two different groups. We’ve got a development squad with 11 boys whose handicaps are slightly higher and 11 boys in the elite group who all have single figure handicaps.

“It’s not all about the elite boys though. We try to give everybody the full package of coaching and ensure that competitions are available to the players with higher handicaps too.”

“They are a great group to work with and really deserve all the credit” – Murdoch

Murdoch coaches the Merchiston academy players up to three times a week at Kings Acre GC – where he also the director of golf – with both squads there from 2pm-6pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while the elite squad have an extra session on a Friday.

And heading into the Home Internationals, the former Challenge Tour player has reiterated his pride in getting to coach such talented young players.

He said: “As their coach I am really proud of the boys’ achievements to date. They are a great group to work with and really deserve all the credit.

“However, it’s not just about the four boys playing next week, it’s the whole 22 players we now have in our squad. We have created a great family of golfers at the school and the boys playing next week are seen as real role models to the other members of the squad.”

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