Ramsay birdies the last to salvage a 73 at Sea Island, Georgia

SALTMAN (71) LEADING

SCOT IN FIRST ROUND

OF JONES CUP INVITATIONAL

US amateur champion Richie Ramsay (Royal Aberdeen) birdied the last hole to salvage a one-over-par 73 in the first round of the 54-hole Jones Cup Invitational at Federica Golf Club, Sea Island, Georgia.
In cold, windy conditions, Ramsay, who finished 11th in the event last year, birdied the first, 10th and 18th but dropped shots at the fifth, sixth and eighth on his way to a two-over-par outward half of 38. He had only one bogey after the turn, at the 13th.
Walker Cup player Lloyd Saltman (Craigielaw), pictured right, did best of the Scots in the quality field of prospective GB&I and United States Walker Cup selections for this year’s match at Royal County Down. He had a one-under-par 71 with halves of 37 (one over) and 34 (two under par).
University of Mississippi student Callum Macaulay, the West of Scotland open champion from Tulliallan, matched the par of 72 with two halves of 36.
Keir McNicoll (Carnoustie), the East of Scotland Open champion, had a 74 (38-36)
Paul O'Hara (Colville Park) returned a three-over 75.
Scottish amateur stroke-play champion Scott Henry (Cardross) was three over par after only three holes with a bogey-par-double bogey start but he steadied up to return a 76 (38-38).
BAD DAY FOR McALPINE
Scottish amateur match-play champion Kevin McAlpine (Alyth) had a 6 at the 16th and a 6 at the 18th in halves of 40 for a most disappointing round of 80.
Russell Knox from Inverness, a student at Jacksonville University, Florida, returned a 79 after taking 42 shots to the turn.
American Gary Woodland, a student at the University of Kansas, set the first-day pace with a seven-under-par 65 (32-33).

The long-hitting former college basketball player made the most of the generous fairways on the Tom Fazio design and kept his golf ball in the correct portions of the lay-out's sprawling greens.
"I hit driver 12 times today. I don't do that very often. Usually, I'm hitting driver two or three times a round," said Woodland, whose three-stroke lead over Adam Mitchell (68) could have been greater, but he parred both par 5s on the closing nine.

"The fairways here allow me to get up there and just swing hard. That's a huge advantage for me."
A candidate for the US Walker Cup line-up for Northern Ireland, Woodland's power game is his strongest asset, both here and probably at Royal County Down.

FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 72
Players from US unless stated.
65 G Woodland.
68 A K Mitchell.
69 L List, B Todd.
70 T Jackson, W Simpson, M Thompson, J Campillo, A Eaton, R Grube.
71 R Hybl, L Saltman (Sco) 37-34, B Parker (Eng), B Witcher, J Byrd, T Can, B Harman.
72 M Hoffman, D Johnson, C Macaulay (Sco) 36-36, D May, D Melnyk, P Nagle, G Todd, R Fowler, R F Gerwin.
73 R Ramsay (Sco) 38-35, T Kuehne, J Parry (Eng), T Ragland, G Shaw (NIre), K Stanley, H Swafford, T Brown, R Davies (Wal), K Davis, M Green.
Other scores:
74 K McNicoll (Sco) 38-36.
75 P O'Hara (Sco) 39-36.
76 S Henry (Sco) 38-38.
78 K Tway (US).
79 R Knox (Sco) 42-37.
80 K McAlpine (Sco) 40-40.