Seemingly refusing to be outdone by his younger sibling, Nairn’s Sandy Scott heads the field after the opening round of the new-look Scottish Men’s Amateur Championship in Prestwick.
After 13-year-old Calum Scott won his first national title at the recent Global Golf Post Scottish Under-16s and became one of the youngest-ever Scots to earn a Boys’ Home Internationals call-up, big brother has perhaps felt a little extra sibling rivalry.
Sandy certainly rose to the occasion on day one in Ayrshire, taking route 66 to post a five-under-par effort over the historic Prestwick links to head a quartet of players a stroke further back.
In line with a number of other countries, the Championship has changed from straight knock-out to 36-hole stroke play qualifying over Prestwick and Prestwick St Cuthbert’s, with the leading 64 players (and ties) reaching the match play stages.
“I played really well and hit the ball better than the last few weeks,” said Scott, 19, a European Amateur Team winner with Scotland last summer. “I didn’t miss many greens which was key and managed to get up and down for par when I needed to which kept my momentum going.
“I drove the ball well and my short putting was consistent. I also managed my way round the course which was crucial in the wind.
While Calum has a little work to do in a tie for 73rd spot after his three-over effort, there were no such problems for Calum Fyfe (Cawder), Banchory’s Sam Locke, Ed Wood from Crow Wood and Musselburgh’s Benn McLeod on four under.
Balmore’s Chris Maclean, recently selected for the forthcoming Men’s Home Internationals after a fine season, continued his form following a three-under 68 at Prestwick.
“I played really solid today, anything under par around Prestwick is pretty nice, especially in a wind like that,” said Maclean. “I just had to try and stay patient and pick up some birdies when I had the chances. Hopefully I can do the same tomorrow, then we can see what happens as the week progresses.”
Australia-based Scot Josh Greer, who was runner-up in the Scottish Boys’ at Scotscraig to Airdrie’s Greg Dalziel, also caught the eye after a 68 at Prestwick St Cuthbert’s, while Euan McIntosh from Turnhouse stepped up his bid for a Home Internationals return following his solid 69. Dalziel himself put himself in position for a Boys’ and Men’s Amateur double after his own 68.
Defending champion from Windyhill, George Duncan, posted a 73, the same score as the field’s top-ranked player Craig Howie from Peebles, both sharing a tie for 55th.
The second round of strokeplay qualifying takes place on Tuesday ahead of the matchplay stages.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here