Will Porter had made it look all too easy on his path to the Scottish Boys’ Championshiop final, but the true examination came for the Arbroath teenager in winning it.
The 17-year-old became just the fourth Carnoustie Golf Club player to win the pre-eminent national junior title after enduring all the Scottish spring could throw at him as well as the challenge of Bathgate’s Ross Callan at Dunbar on Saturday .
He follows Steven Brown (2001), Alan Brown (1975) and David Greig (1967, when players were entered by school rather than club) but it’s doubtful his predecessors suffered the same kind of test Will did on Saturday.
Some rain, even hail, and constant gale force winds with some remnants of the sunshine that the field had enjoyed all week made it an endurance test as much as a final, but Porter’s quality so obvious in his four outstanding performances leading into the final eventually brought him to a 4 and 3 victory.
“It’s so cool to get my name on this trophy with all the great names that are already on it,” he said after winning his title.
“I played last year for the first time and lost in the first round and this time I was just aiming for the quarter-finals and boosting my points on the SGU junior order of merit, but it’s fantastic to win.”
On Thursday and Friday, the impressive Glenalmond College pupil had been in majestic form, winning four rounds in a cumulative 15-under-par and not being taken beyond the 15th green in any of those games.
However, those matches were played in almost near-perfect conditions, and something more akin to traditional Boys Championship weather closed in on Dunbar for the final.
Initially, despite the players wearing thermals and beanie hats for the first time in the week, it seemed the story would be the same as Porter got off to a fast start with some early birdies and standing two-up on the sixth tee exactly as he had done in his victories the previous two days.
However once out on the exposed part of the Dunbar course beyond the ancient stone hut, things were very different as both players struggled.
On the back nine, both players let the radical change in the weather get to them, both requiring 47 strokes for that stretch. Five of the nine holes were won in bogey, there was a half in double bogey sixes at the 14th and Will only got to one-up at lunch with a five up the last to Callan’s double bogey seven.
In the afternoon, things didn’t seem to be about to improve as Callan drew level again at the 19th and the 20th was halved in bogey sixes, but Will’s philosophy for the week then came to bear.
“The idea I had with Dunbar was to make my score on the first nine and then just hang on,” he said. “The weather reminded me of last year’s British Boys at Prestwick and Dundonald, with the strong wind. I think I learnt from that experience and used it today.
“I didn’t play well on the back nine in the morning and but started to put Ross under pressure with birdies and pars after lunch to get ahead.”
Birdies at the fourth, eighth and ninth, with Callan bogeying the 7th, allowed Will to build a four-up lead and that was enough for when the duo turned back into the wind and things got tougher again.
There can be no doubt that the best player in the field took the title. Callan, son of Bathgate pro Stuart, will have other chances having just turned 16 but with the quality of his Porter’s play all week and the notable scalp of favourite and top seed Calum Fyfe, he was the class act.
What now? After being co-winner of the first Junior Order of Merit event last week, he’s bang in form and will play a full schedule this year.
“I’ve looked at what Ewen Ferguson and Bradley Neil, the past two winners have achieved, and that can only give me confidence,” said Will, whose great improvement over the past 18 months has coincided with his work with Kevin Hale, Neil’s coach, and with the former Scottish PGA champion Fraser Mann.
“I’ve got one more year at Glenalmond, so I’ll stick at that and take that time to weigh up my options,” he said. “I’ll maybe look a golf scholarship for university, perhaps in America but there are also options to consider here.”