TWO Scottish golfers who died in World War One are to be commemorated by the Professional Golfers’ Association.

Robert McDougall and Robert Barr, both from Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, were born within 16 days of each other in April 1895.

Their lives ran uncannily parallel until their tragic deaths.

Before the war, Robert ‘Bobby’ Barr worked as an assistant at Ranfurly Castle Golf Club while Robert ‘Bertie’ McDougall was the professional at neighbouring club Old Ranfurley.

Bertie enlisted into the 15th Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry in mid November 1914 with Bobby following suit a week later.

Both men survived almost a year in active service before Bobby, 21, was killed by shrapnel in the Battle of Ancre at Beaumont-Hamel on November 18, 1916, on the final British offensive of the Battle of the Somme.

Bertie, 24, was sadly killed by a sniper’s bullet on the very same day.

The men lie within four graves of each other in the Munich Trench British Cemetery at Beaumont-Hamel, France.

Around seven per cent of the PGA’s membership lost their lives in the conflict.

All of whom will have their names engraved on a commemorative plaque at the Association’s national headquarters at The Belfry.

Bobby and Bertie’s stories were uncovered by former PGA chairman Dr Phil Weaver OBE, who is working to establish the names of all golf professionals and assistants killed in the conflict.

So far the identities of 51 PGA pros who failed to return from the battlefields have been verified and those of another five are awaiting confirmation.

“The Association had 840 members in 1913, the year before the war started, so that’s seven per cent of the membership who were killed in the conflict,” he said.

Dr Weaver gained much of his information from a rare, if not the only surviving, copy of the Association’s list of members for 1913.

Thereafter, however, he has had to rely on other sources to help his research.