JUST THINK WHAT TWO COACHES,

TWO TRAINERS AND TWO PHYSIOS
COULD DO FOR CLARE QUEEN!

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Two weekend newspaper articles about leading sporting Scots - one a male tennis player and the other a female professional golfer - served to highlight the financial gulf between the two.

In today's "Scotland on Sunday," John Fraser writes about Andy Murray, the 20-year-old British No 1 tennis player from Dunblane, and his decision to part company with his coach Brad Gilbert ... "whose large salary was provided by the Lawn Tennis Association."

"I'm really looking forward to my new way of doing things," Murray told Fraser. "I want to be in a position where I have a couple of coaches, a couple of trainers and a couple of physios."

John Fraser does not say whether the Lawn Tennis Association will pick up the bill for all six backroom boys when they join Team Murray.

Meanwhile, Jock MacVicar wrote in Saturday's "Scottish Daily Express" about 24-year-old Glasgow-born Clare Queen who jumped 60 places to 39th on the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit in 2007.

Clare, who is attached to The Carrick at Cameron House, has had only one coach for the last eight or nine years - Ian Rae, the Scottish Golf Union's national coach.

But there is an even bigger contrast between Murray and Queen. While just how much it will cost Andy - or the LTA - to fund an entourage of six does not seem to come into his financial equation at all, the equally-ambitious Clare is worried about the cost of hiring a full-time caddie, which she knows is an essential move towards her goal of playing on the LPGA Tour.

MacVicar wrote:

"Clare has to sort herself out with a regular caddie. Up to now, family and friends or a local caddie have helped her out. But she knows it isn't an ideal situation if she is to take the next step."

"Next year I want to employ a full-time caddie," Queen told MacVicar, adding "That's going to bump my expenses up. But I have made a bit of money this year and building a relationship with someone who knows your game really well is a big advantage. A good regular caddie can save you a shot or two per round. It's difficult to get that when you're just depending on people from all over."

Writes MacVicar: "It is a frustrating fact that while golfers of the calibre of Queen and Peter Whiteford struggle for financial backing in Scotland, golfers from down south of similar, or even lesser quality, are running around in sponsors' cars."

Never mind "down south" ... what about Andy Murray's sporting lifestyle?

Just think what it could do for Clare Queen to have two coaches, two trainers and a couple of physios.