Stirling golfer selected for Glasgow 2018 role

With less than 200 days until the biggest sporting event to be staged in Scotland since the Commonwealth Games, University of Stirling golf scholar, Hazel MacGarvie, has been selected as one of Glasgow 2018’s 6for2018.

Taking place from 2 to 12 August, the inaugural European Championships will see around 3,000 athletes compete in six sports at 12 venues across Scotland. The new multi-sport event will host 84 sessions across six different sports - Aquatics, Cycling, Golf, Gymnastics, Rowing and Triathlon.

Glasgow 2018 is set to celebrate the country’s young talent and achievers, coinciding with the Year of Young People, and six ambitious young athletes, representing each of the sports, hope the profile of Glasgow 2018 will help inspire more young people to get involved in sports.

Up-and-coming University of Stirling golfer Hazel MacGarvie has been selected for the 6for2018 campaign and believes the new event will offer plenty of motivation to achieve her own goals and potentially join a senior professional tour one day.

Golfing history will be created at Glasgow 2018 when the first ever European Golf Team Championships are staged on the iconic PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles in Perth and Kinross. The competition will bring together the best men and women golfers in Europe to compete side-by-side in a mixed event to create a new highlight on the golfing calendar.

MacGarvie said: “I’m looking forward to seeing men and women play golf together for the first time at a competitive tournament. It’s great having such an event like this come to Glasgow and Scotland and being able to attend the event.

“Golf is a sport that can be taken up at any point in time and it is a sport that can be played all the time with no age limit. It also has a great social aspect where you can meet new people. I believe the European Championships will show young people, both male and female, what it’s all about and encourage them to give it a shot.”

Originally from Troon, South Ayrshire, MacGarvie first picked up a golf club at the age of just four-years-old and within a few years, quickly began to establish herself as one of the most promising young female golfers in Scotland and is now part of the University of Stirling’s world-renowned and .

“I enjoyed the competitive nature of the sport and the fact it was outdoors. I like the social aspect too - it’s a great way to meet new people”.

Commenting on MacGarvie’s role, David Bond, Head of Performance Sport at the University of Stirling, said: “Since starting at Stirling, Hazel has become a valuable member of the golf squad and a great ambassador for the University and its International Sports Scholarship Programme. We’re immensely proud of her on-course achievements and her impressive attitude and commitment make her the perfect candidate to help Glasgow 2018 inspire the next generation of sport stars.”

MacGarvie has represented Scotland at European Girls and Home International level since 2014 and was part of the Great Britain and Ireland Junior Vagliano Team in 2015.

The young Ayrshire golfer has enjoyed a number of notable successes including the Scottish Girls’ Championship and Order of Merit titles and, after joining the programme at Stirling, was part of the first ever international team to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division One tournament at the prestigious Yale Intercollegiate Invitational at New Haven, Connecticut, where she also finished second in the individual rankings.

To be staged every four years, the European Championships will be an 11-day celebration of world-class sport and produce a packed 10-day broadcast schedule, with audiences of up to 1.03 billion.