By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
When the bagpipers came marching up the cart path, Jerry Bruns knew he wasn’t in South Carolina anymore. But thanks to Bruns and eight teammates, the Watson Cup will stay here for at least a couple more years.
Bruns, a rising senior at Beaufort High, was part of a team of nine South Carolina junior golfers charged with retaining the Watson Cup last week in Scotland — an overdue trip that was postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic — and the Carolina crew got the job done with a 27-24 victory.
The Watson Cup was set up to commemorate the link between Scotland and the Carolinas that ostensibly led to the game of golf being introduced to the colonies. The event was first played in 2018 at Kiawah Island, when the local squad kept the Cup at home, and the reciprocal match in Scotland was slated for 2020 before being postponed two years.
Bruns was among the nine players representing the Palmetto State against a team from the East Lothian Junior Golf League from the Edinburgh area. Bruns got off to a terrific start in the four-ball matches at Royal Burgess on Tuesday, teaming with Luke Walmet to win all three points, and he teamed with Burch Harrison to halve a point on Wednesday and halved a point in his singles match Thursday to help the Americans secure a 27-24 victory that went to the penultimate hole of the last match.
The South Carolina crew was also paid a visit by U.S. Open champion and Palmetto State native Lucas Glover and had the chance to meet some Golf Channel celebrities with the golf world’s eyes on the Scottish Open last week.
