Find Me a 100 Winner - Zane Scotland

Find Me A 100 Winner / Paul Krishnamurty / 15 January 2008 / Leave a Comment

From flavour of the month to forgotten man, young Englishman can finally show how good he is...

Such is the volume of emerging young talent in Europe these days that its very easy for a player to slide quickly from flavour of the month to forgotten man. Right now, we're all jumping aboard the Rory Mcllroy bandwagon, confidently predicting that he's Europe's answer to Tiger Woods. But if Rory needs a reminder to keep his feet on the ground and take each step at a time, he need look no further than Zane Scotland.

Zane, who once won a tournament to find "Britain's Tiger Woods", first hit the headlines as a 16-year-old when becoming the youngest player ever to qualify for the Open Championship. That was nine years ago now and until last summer he'd been all but forgotten. In fairness, his delayed emergence was the consequence of injuries sustained in a car crash, and now he's finally arrived on the main European Tour he is one of the most interesting players to follow in 2008.

I'll be looking to back this attacking player on courses where low scoring is expected, and this week's Abu Dhabi Championship fits the bill perfectly. Last year, Paul Casey won on -17 and the previous year Chris Dimarco won with a total of -20. One of the keys to scoring here is the par-5s, and in this department Scotland ranks an impressive 12th over the past 12 months.

Impressively earning a Tour card from just seven events, Scotland served notice over the summer that he was ready to make an impact at this higher level. His best finish was seventh at The Belfry in the prestigious British Masters, though he made a bigger impression a few weeks earlier in Germany. At low-scoring venue Gut Kaden, Scotland held the lead for some time and played in Sunday's final group alongside eventual winner Andres Romero. He blew out completely on that day, hitting a poor 76th to finish 11th, but that can probably be put down to nerves as he'd never been in a remotely comparable situation before. Next time around I'm sure he'll handle it better.

To read more on Zane's early life and current career, click here...