Everyone at the Four Ashes Golf Centre will be rooting for Scott Blaney when he heads off to Bath later this month to take part in a qualifying tournament for this year’s Invictus Games.
This year’s Invictus Games take place this year in Toronto, Canada, between September 23 and 30, with golf featuring at the event for the first time. And Scott has his sights set firmly on being part of the 15 strong Great Britain squad for the inaugural golf tournament.
Scott – who works in the Midland Golf Superstore at Four Ashes, and is a popular and now familiar figure around our Golf Centre – will be competing in a two-day qualifying tournament in Bath on April 20 and 21.
To qualify, he needs to finish in the top 15, and though he is confident he is good enough to do just that, he is also realistic enough to understand that the competition will be both strong and determined.
“Of course I’d like to be part of the Invictus Games,” said Scott, who lost his left leg 10 years ago as a result of an explosion while serving as a soldier with the Brigadier Guards in Afghanistan. “But lots of other golfers are in a similar situation to me, so it’s going to be very tough and intense,” he said.
Scott first took up golf in 2005, originally as a form of escapism from the battlefield he regularly frequented as a soldier serving with the Grenadier Guards, which he did between 2004 and 2015. “After losing my leg in 2007 golf became my way of battling back, and since then it has become my life.
“I stayed in the Army until 2015, but two years ago I decided it was time to move on, and I am now loving being involved with golf full-time,” he said. “I’ve played a few tournaments on the European Disabled Golf Association Tour, but more than anything, I play on the Battleback Golf Association circuit, which is for guys like me, who were injured on duty.
“We play tournaments at different golf clubs around the country, and we also have an annual trophy, in a format like the Ryder Cup, against both Australia and the United States,” said Scott, who says he models his game on that of the 2016 Open Champion, Henrik Stenson of Sweden.
With so much to play for, the two-day tournament in Bath will be intense, but Scott is no stranger to a tough challenge. Several years ago, he and a team of other wounded Army colleagues, to take part in the what is described as the world’s toughest rowing event, the Atlantic Challenge.
“We came third overall and second in our category – there were four men, with just five legs between us, and we covered 3-thousand nautical miles,” said Scott. “It was a great achievement and one that I’m very proud of; it was also tough, but yes, I would do it again, though I can’t see it happening!”
And it would be a great achievement if Scott is among the 15 players making up the Great Britain squad at the Invictus Games between September 23 and 30 this year. And everyone at Four Ashes Golf Centre will have all digits crossed during the two days of the qualifying event.
Whatever happens in Bath, Scott will always be a winner with us!