EUAN MOIR FROM HAMILTON TO THE FORE IN
BRITISH MID-AMATEUR AT ALWOODLEY

FROM THE R&A WEBSITE

Three times British open mid-amateur championship winner John Kemp is back in the hunt for a fourth title after taming the tricky Yorkshire breeze to get round the 6,793 yards Alwoodley, Leeds course in a best of the day level-par 71 to be among the leading qualifiers into the first round of tomorrow's match-play stages on 146.
Winner of the championship in 1999, 2002 and 2003 and beaten finalist in 2000, the 39-year-old packaging salesman from the John O’Gaunt club in Cambridgeshire, chipped in twice on the sixth and 16th and sank a 40ft putt for a birdie 2 at the ninth.
“I played well today, I was a bit more aggressive,” said Kemp, who matched four birdies with four bogeys.
His John O'Gaunt clubmate, 44-year-old Mark Wharton, the overnight leader on 66, added a 72 to lead the qualifiers on 138. "I played well - it was hard work out there and I'm glad to be through," said the six times Bedfordshire champion.
Cambridgeshire landscape gardener Lee Yearn added a second round 74 to his opening 67 for a one under par total of 141 to qualify with plenty to spare. “It was a bit brutal out there but I played well,” said the 36-year-old from the Ely City club.
“I dropped a stroke at the first when my tee shot ended up in a small hole just off the fairway, but I pulled it back at the long third, with a nine-iron second to 30ft and two putts. Then I found traps off the tee at the short seventh and ninth and failed to get up and down to drop two more shots.”
Out in two over par 38, Yearn got his shots back with a birdie at the long 10th and another at the 12th where he sank a 10-foot putt.
“I struggled a bit from there. I dropped a stroke at the 13th when I didn’t reach the fairway off the tee and took a five. I hit a great three iron onto the green at the 206-yard 14th into the wind and sank the putt from 20 feet, but then dropped strokes at three of the last four holes.”
A stroke behind Yearn is 41-year-old Steve Barwick from the Stoke Park club in Buckinghamshire, who also shot 74 to add to his opening 68. Like Yearn he dropped strokes on the way home after reaching the turn in one under 35.
“I had three putts at the 12th, didn’t get up and down from over the green at the 13th, found a bunker off the tee and could only hack out at the 17th and missed from four feet for par at the last,” said Barwick.
“But I’m in the match-play stages and the higher up the better.”
A stroke ahead of Kemp on 145 is another old hand at the Mid-Amateur, 39-year-old Scot Euan Moir from Hamilton and 25-year-old Cheshire country player Andrew Hardie who is playing for the first time.
Professional's son Moir, who won the qualifying at Seaton Carew in 2001 and was third last year at Southport & Ainsdale when he shot 65 in the first round, added a 73 to his opening 72, as did Hardie.
Moir had two birdies and two bogeys on the way out and three bogeys and just one birdie on the way home. His twin brother Michael failed to qualify.
Hardie, who plays out of Astbury near Crewe, opened with a birdie at the first but then dropped strokes at the second, eighth and ninth to be out in 38. He dropped further strokes at the 12th and 15th but then finished with a flourish, with birdies the 16th and 18th.
“I hit a seven-iron to 10 feet at the 16th and a three-wood to eight feet at the last,” he said.
Three experienced players - Roger Roper from Wike Ridge, Graeme Marchbank from Durham City and Nigel Sweet from nearby Moortown are on 147 and the group on 149 includes former Scotland international player Sandy Twynholme from Morpeth, beaten by Gary Wolstenholme in the 1998 Mid-Amateur final at Ganton.
Also on 149 are Americans Jay Blumenfeld from New Jersey, Paul Simson from North Carolina and Brian Harris from Indiana.
Blumenfeld, 51, a regular at the event and a previous quarter-finalist, added a 78 to his opening 71, while 56-year-old Simson, who is playing for the first time, added a 77 to his 72.“It’s a magnificent event and a great venue, said Simson, who won the British Seniors at Saunton in Devon last year and was fifth at Nairn last week.
Harris, 39, who shot 75 to add to his 74, is playing in the event for the sixth time. “I just love the golf over here,” said Harris. “I’ve reached the match-play stages every time and was in the quarter-finals last year.”

QUALIFIERS
Par 142 (2 x 71) CSS 72 74
138 Mark Wharton (John O'Gaunt) 66 72.
141 Lee Yearn (Ely City 67) 74.
142 Steven Barwick (Stoke Park) 68 74
145 Andrew Hardie (Astbury) 72 73, Euan Moir (Hamilton) 72 73.
146 John Kemp (John O'Gaunt) 75 71.
147 Roger Roper (Wike Ridge) 74 73, Graeme Marchbank, Durham City 72 75, Nigel Sweet (Moortown) 70 77.
149 Edward Richardson, Rye 76 73, Matthew Cryer (Coventry) 75 74, Brian Harris (US) 74 75, Paul Simson (US) 72 77, Sandy Twynholm (Morpeth) 71 78, Jay Blumenfeld (US) 71 78.
150 Tom Woodhouse, East Devon 76 74, Paul Moultrie (Troon Portland) 76 74, John Sheeny (Wike Ridge) 72 78, Ian Crowther (Royal Lytham) 70 80.
151 Stewart Elder (Kirkcaldy) 77 74, David Bartman (US) 75 76, Craig Fort (Nelson) 75 76,
Andrew Inglis, Sunningdale Artisans 75 76, Andy King (Garforth) 74 77, Ian Barker (Burhill) 73 78, Michael Curry (Brancepeth Castle) 71 80.
152 Richard Reed (Royal Birkdale) 77 75, Michael Henson (Bedale) 77 75, Stephen Machin (Cowglen) 77 75, Ulrich Schulter (Germany) 76 76, Martin Brown Pike Hills) 74 78, Peter Crowther (Royal Wimbledon) 73 79.
153 Doug Stiles (US) 80 73, Andrew Smith (Royal Ashdown Forest) 76 77, John Stansbury (Sunningdale) 76 77.
Other Scots among match-play qualifiers:
154 Nicky Gold (Bonnyton) 78 76.
155 Bryan Innes (Murcar Links) 75 80.

NON-QUALIFIERS INCLUDED:

157 Graeme Rodger (Cambuslang) 76 81.
159 Jamie Farmer, St Andrews 78 81, Michael Moir (Hamilton) 77 82, Andy Weir (Stirling) 76 83, John Laurie (Cowglen) 75 84.
160 Mark Riddell (Baberton) 78 82, Keith Macnair (Glasgow) 77 83.
163 Kevin Loughrie (Cambuslang) 80 83.
164 Kenny Reid (Prestwick) 80 84.
169 Gordon Landsburgh (Scotscraig) 90 82.