A driving ambition to be No 1

Robert Philip

• Last Updated: October 25. 2009 11:35PM UAE / October 25. 2009 7:35PM GMT

Carly Booth was the youngest to play in the Curtis Cup in 2008 at St Andrews, Scotland. David Cannon / Getty Images

To the marketing men, she is viewed as the “Anna Kournikova of golf” for the simple reason that whatever she earns on the course is likely to be increased tenfold and more through endorsements, advertising contracts and modelling engagements.

Less enamoured by the glamour girl image the former tennis star Kournikova enjoyed, she is the “female Tiger Woods” for many like Sandy Lyle and a teenage phenomenon who is poised to re-write the record books.

Having become the youngest player to compete in the Curtis Cup at the age of 15 years and 11 months in 2008, Carly Booth – named after singer Carly Simon – awaits both wealth and global celebrity with all the confidence of youth. “The fame and fortune will be nice,” she says.

“I suppose I might get a bit tired of it all. It might be quite annoying to be in the public eye constantly but I think it sounds like fun.”

It will certainly be fun in Rio de Janeiro this week when the Scottish teenager, who this time last year successfully defended her Daily Telegraph Junior Golf title at Abu Dhabi, tees off in the Nick Faldo Junior Series Grand Final.

She is the girl to beat before heading for La Manga in Spain where – barring the unforeseen – she will win her playing card for the 2010 European Women’s Tour.

Her father, Wallace comes equipped with a cautionary tale. At the age of 15, he was one of a trio of boys in the Aberdeen Schools’ Football XI of whom great things were predicted. Denis Law became a legend, Alex Dawson became a Manchester United hero with a hat-trick in the in the 1958 FA Cup semi-final against Fulham whereas Booth had to quit with a shattered knee and later took up wrestling. Wallace served as a bouncer in 1960s at the Cavern club in Liverpool. “A wonderful time,” he said.

“I was on the door the night Brian Epstein first came to hear the Beatles. When John, Paul, George and Ringo left Liverpool for London they offered me a job as their roadie but I was in training for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.

“As fate would have it, after winning the British title I was injured and had to miss the Games.”

After returning to their native Scotland in 1988, Wallace and Pauline Booth bought a farm where his son Wallace Jnr (who lay 16th at the halfway stage of the recent Alfred Dunhill Links only to fall away in the last two rounds) became hooked on golf.

“Every day after school he was out in the fields hitting balls. So I fenced off a small section and built him a hole... then six holes... nine... 11... and finally 14. Like all wee girls who idolise their big brothers, Carly started following Wallace around from about the age of four, pinching a club when he wasn’t looking and having a go.”

Carly now stands on the threshold of greatness. So where does she see herself in five years? “Being world No 1” she says in a tone of voice that brooks no argument. And if she should fail to conquer the world at golf? “Then maybe – maybe – I’d like to be a model. It’s probably impossible but modelling would be an OK kind of second best.”

Sandy Lyle has no doubts where her future lies: “She is an unbelievable talent. I know she wants to be the best in the world but she should aim even higher – the best of all time maybe...”

Faldo passes tips to youngsters

Nick Faldo: golf architect, restaurateur, global businessman with sufficient air miles to fly to the moon and back and American television commentator, the man who could have simply pumped a bundle of money into the Nick Faldo Foundation (whose past graduates include Rory McIlroy) and the Faldo Junior Series, then sat back to enjoy the plaudits.

“Well, that’s not quite the spirit of the thing, is it?” he explains. “Number one, I enjoy doing it. It has always been a goal of mine to help encourage or nurture junior golf – in Britain especially – and I think it’s important for the kids and for myself that I have to be actively involved.”

It was all very different when Faldo was a teenager, growing up on a estate in Welwyn Garden City where his future lay entirely in his own bricklayer-sized hands. “Apart from my parents I received very, very little in the way of help or encouragement,” he says.

“Off my own back, I visited

Henry Cotton at the end of my rookie year in ‘77 and that was the first occasion I spent time with any mega star to be given some lessons and glean a few little

secrets or what-have-you.

“It was quite funny because I

remember Henry saying to me, ‘one thing you should always do when you’re driving to the golf course is never put your right arm out of the window’.

“I thought ‘wow’ and asked ‘is that because the wind on your arm can lead to tendinitis or ruin your touch?’ And Henry replied ‘no, it’s because if you’re in a crash it’ll take your arm off’.”

rphilip@thenational.ae