With Vikki Laing beginning to fulfil her potential as shown by her maiden win on the Futures Tour in the US on Sunday, and Andrew McArthur moving into the promotion zone on the European Challenge Tour, it was a good golfing weekend for the up-and-coming young Scottish brigade.

Also in the US, Martin Laird might have suffered a rare missed cut on the Nationwide Tour, but he remains at No.11 and in line to be among the top 25 who step up to the PGA Tour next year when he would be the lone Scot plying his trade on the world's most lucrative golfing circuit.

These are results and positions that might not answer the burning question of who is going to supplant Colin Montgomerie and the three Ms of women's golf - Catriona Matthew, Mhairi McKay and Janice Moodie - as the leading Scots but they can certainly be added to the small list of contenders.

Laing, 26, has been a tip for the top since she dominated Scottish girls golf with three national titles in the 1990s leading to a Curtis Cup place. Now California-based, the Musselburgh player's development in the US has been hampered in part by a lack of funding.

That was eased this season by philanthropic support from Dick Gilbert, the chief executive of Mudd Jeans, for whom she caddied in Scotland several years ago, and the $14,000 prize for winning the Gettysburg Championship in Pennsylvania will help matters along further.

Up to No.8 in the rankings, you would think that would be good enough for an LPGA card, but she must win again in the final tournament of the season, the Iloveny Championship at Albany, New York, to make it into the top five who are promoted. She is, however, assured of a place in the qualifying school finals, by-passing two stages.

There might even be a chance of Scottish fans seeing her in the new Women's Scottish Open at Carrick on Loch Lomond starting on September 20. Laing has already been talking about the prospect with her Scottish manager, Iain Stoddart of Edinburgh-based Bounce Management, but will delay a final decision until the conclusion of her Futures Tour campaign.

McArthur was dismayed at losing out on victory in the Challenge Tour's Postbank Challenge in Germany by missing a two-foot putt at the second extra hole of a sudden-death play-off.

You can be sure he is not sparing himself in the self-recrimination process, but as soon as that subsides there will be positives to be found in that his game is coming together at the right time of the season and that his joint runner-up finish was worth euros 12,600, lifting him eight places to No.13 and inside the top 20 who move up to the European Tour.

He is now taking a fortnight off - a planned break - to leave him fresh for the two end-of-season big-money events, the Kazakhstan Open and then the Grand Final in Italy in October. A strong finish is important because the top 10 are in a category that would provide more European Tour starts next season.

With Alastair Forsyth finishing joint third in the KLM Open in Holland and McKay's joint runner-up finish on the LPGA Tour's Safeway Classic, Scottish interest is raised for the tail-end of the seasons on the various tours on either side of the Atlantic.

AND ANOTHER THING . . . Watch out world - another tubby is on the tee.

In the wake of Tiger Woods' lecture on how super-fitness was vital to his success in the US PGA Championship oven at Southern Hills in Tulsa, right on cue arrives another golfer more in the profile of John Daly or Craig Stadler.

He is the wonderfully named Colt Knost, who succeeded Scotland's Richie Ramsay on Sunday as US amateur champion.

The Dallas-based player, as US Public Links champion, was already in the US Walker Cup team to meet GB&I at Royal County Down in just less than a fortnight and in line to play the Masters next year.

"You look at that frame and 80% of it is heart," remarked Randy Smith, his coach, kindly after the final at the Olympic club in San Francisco.

Knost is clearly the form player in the US Walker Cup side that was completed yesterday with teenagers Rickie Fowler and Kyle Stanley named as the last two in the 10-man side. There is no place for Drew Weaver, the surprise British amateur champion, who is second reserve.

Using the amateur world rankings as a guide, the US team are clear favourites on paper, but with superior experience on links, GB&I are clear favourites on grass. It is shaping up to be a fabulous contest.