NOT A BAD DAY FOR SCOTLAND AS KEVIN
McALPINE LEADS WAY INTO THIRD PLACE

Scotland are lying in third place on 357 behind France (353) and England (355) as they go into Wednesday's second and final qualifying round for the match-play stages of the European men's amateur team championship at Western Gailes, Ayrshire.
The main objective is to be among the top eight teams after the second round because only they go forward to the championship flight match-play. You cannot win the European title if you finish ninth in the qualifying. It is as simple as that.
Double Scottish champion Kevin McAlpine (Alyth) was the Scotland hero with a team-leading, three-under-par 68. Only five of the six scores count daily for each team in the qualifying rounds.
Scotland's other counters were Richie Ramsay (Royal Aberdeen) and Jonathan King (Glasgow), both with rock-solid 70s. Then there was a gap in the standard of performance to the next counting score of three-over-par 74 by Lloyd Saltman (Craigielaw). James Byrne (Banchory), making his debut at men's international level, had his four-over 75 also counting. The non-counter was Keir McNicoll (Carnoustie) with a 77.
FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 355 (5 x 71)
353 FRANCE (J Wolff 69, V Dubuisson 69, A Bernadet 70, A Kaleka 72, K Le Sager 73. NC: R Bechu 74).
355 ENGLAND (J Moule 68, P Waring 68, G Wolstenholme 70, J Parry 74, G Boyd 75. NC: D Horsey 76).
357 SCOTLAND (K McAlpine 68, R Ramsay 70, J King 70, L Saltman 74, J Byrne 75. NC: K McNicoll 77).
358 IRELAND (R McIlroy 67, S Ward 71, R Kilpatrick 73, G Shaw 73, J Caldwell 74. NC: S Lowry 74); DENMARK.
360 NORWAY.
365 GERMANY, SPAIN.
===============PROJECTED CUT-OFF FOR TOP FLIGHT ==================

367 SWEDEN.
368 WALES ( Evans 72, R Thomas 73, N Edwards 74, R Enoch 74, L Matthews 75. NC: R Davies 75).
370 NETHERLANDS, PORTUGAL.
376 AUSTRIA, ICELAND
379 BELGIUM.
380 TURKEY.
382 CZECH REPUBLIC.
383 ITALY.
385 FINLAND.
386 SWITZERLAND.