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Gullit presents trophy to schools golf winners

Football legend Ruud Gullit met aspiring young golfers who took part in last month’s Alfred Dunhill Schools Golf Challenge, at the Old Course, St Andrews today.

The former Dutch footballer gave an inspirational talk to the youngsters who competed in the annual schools tournament held at the Duke’s Course, St Andrews on September 25 and then presented prizes to the winners.

They included the Senior Boys’ category and overall scratch prize winner John Paterson, a student from Madras College; Senior Girls’ winner Jodie Taylor from St John’s High School in Dundee; Junior Boys winner Philip Brown from Harris Academy in Dundee and Anna Mackay from Anstruther’s Waid Academy, who took the Junior Girls’ title.

Ruud congratulated the young golfers and urged them to work hard to meet their future aspirations. He said: “Sport is fantastic. To be successful you need to have talent but that is not enough. In professional sport it’s often people who are not the most talented but those who are prepared to put in the hard work who become the superstars. The more dedication you have, the better you can get.”

Ruud Gullit, whose professional football career spanned 19 years with clubs including PSV Eindhoven, AC Milan and Chelsea, was in St Andrews to take part in this year’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He carded a team score of even par with his professional playing partner, Lucas Bjerregaard.

John Paterson had the thrill of a lifetime yesterday (Saty), when he was called into the Championship to replace actor Hugh Grant who had a back injury. Paterson said: “It was nerve-racking to start with, but it was really good fun.”

Following the presentation the pupils took part in a golf clinic on the Championship practice ground at St Andrews with the internationally renowned golf coach Robert Baker.