'Chuffed' Mitchell Cowie lands home-turf triumph in Southerness Classic

In a testing last-day breeze on the Solway coast for the Tartan Pro Tour’s Southerness Classic, the 25-year-old signed off with a one-over-par 70, which, added to opening scores of 66-68 in almost flat-calm conditions, gave him a three-under total.

To his sheer delight, that gave Cowie a two-shot victory over fellow Scots Paul O’Hara and Danny Kay, as well as American John Vogelpohl, in the third event of the season on the HotelPlanner Tour feeder circuit.

“It’s a nice feeling,” admitted Cowie of landing the spoils in a tournament presented by Alistair Brown International. “It’s my first win as a pro in my third year. Yes, I’m chuffed.

“And to do it on home soil at Southerness makes it an even better feeling. My home club is Dumfries & County, but I’ve been a member at Southerness since I was 14 or 15. Yeah, it’s my second club.”

Graeme Robertson and Welshman James Nash shared the lead on six under heading into the closing circuit, but, on the back of an effort that contained 15 pars, it was Cowie who claimed a £4,000 top prize.

“Today was set up as a real challenge,” he added. “The pins were in some tricky positions for the conditions we had. But I enjoyed the graft as that’s what it was. No-one shot under par today. I think 70 was the best score, so I am really chuffed.

“It was breezy today. Though it was a different wind to the prevailing wind, I’d played in that breeze a lot here and I guess that local knowledge helped a little bit., though the pins made it tricky. A lot of them were different to how the greenkeepers here set it up.

“The comfort of shots probably helped in that wind. Just standing on tee boxes and knowing where you have to start it, where it can finish and what the misses are definitely helped. But you still had to get the ball in the hole and I was delighted to get it over the line.

“I actually never looked at the leaderboard once all day. I didn’t have any idea and the boys were joking that if the guys with cameras are around following you, that’s normally a tell-tale sign. So I’ll know that for next time (laughing).”

Third winner of new Tartan Pro Tour season

Cowie joined Craig Howie, a DP World Tour card holder in recent years, and Michael Stewart, who has played a fair bit on the Hotel Planner Tour, in becoming a winner on the Paul Lawrie-run tour in 2026.

“These guys are top players and I knew today it was going to be tough,” he said. “I was two back starting out and, though that’s not a lot in golf terms, it can change very quickly in these events. They’ve all played at a level above this one and I’ve been very fortunate to get to know Mikey and share with him at events. I think I have learned a lot from being around someone with his experience. That probably helped today as well.”

The sweet success vindicated Cowie’s decision to give it a crack in the paid ranks. “I was very standard as an amateur,” he declared. I didn’t get into any Scottish teams or anything like that. In my last year in 2023, I had a solid Order of Merit finish but I was never chasing Walker Cup or anything like that.

“I decided to turn pro, nonetheless, because if I started to play good golf in the pro game, I could earn some money and work my way up the ladder that way. I played all sports when I was young and probably didn’t take golf seriously until I was 17 or 18.

“Covid then hit and there was a lack of events from 2020 to 2022. I had a year at men’s amateur level and played okay that season and so decided to turn pro at the age of 23. That’s when I started to hear about the Tartan Pro Tour and, while my first year wasn’t great due it to being a learning experience, last year I started to feel I could compete more. Now I’ve managed to win, so it has moved pretty quickly.”

Coach James Erskine’s experience hailed as ‘massive’

Cowie hailed James Erskine, the well-respected head pro at Dumfries & County, for his role in helping him become a first-time professional winner. “James has coached me since I was a young boy,” he said. I remember going through to Portpatrick before he moved to Dumfries & County. He’s been a great help to me and his experience has been massive. Yeah, a lot of thanks to him for this win.”

After the opening three events, Stewart leads the way in the Tartan Pro Tour Order of Merit from Cowie then Kay then Howie, with two HotelPlanner Tour cards once again being up for grabs in the season-long battle.

“Yeah, it gives you a certain belief that you can go on and compete with these guys,” admitted Cowie of how he now aims to try and kick on. “I’ve got to have that confidence now going into the rest of the year that I can push on for another win or two and maybe even get into that top two spot and find myself playing on the HotelPlanner Tour next year.

“There’s no point putting yourself out there and spending the money to not have that confidence you are going to progress. So, yeah, this week has definitely helped with that.”