Australian wins Boyd Quaich ahead of local Sommerville
By THOMAS MARR
The 60th Boyd Quaich Memorial Golf Tournament was held over the Old and New courses in St Andrews with 63 invited players in attendance. All players completed 18 holes on the Old and New courses before the top 30 played a further 36 holes; 18 on each course.
The weather for the first two rounds was excellent but things deteriorated badly on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday’s fourth round was played in torrential rain and a strong, gusting wind where good golf was near-impossible.
The weather for the first two rounds was excellent but things deteriorated badly on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday’s fourth round was played in torrential rain and a strong, gusting wind where good golf was near-impossible.
The standard of play was high and the contest produced a close finish, with Kevin Park from Griffith University in Australia the wire-to-wire winner with a total of 291 (66; 73; 74; 78). Runner-up was local St Andrews golfer Daniel Sommerville (pictured above), representing Clayton State University (USA), who finished three shots behind Park on 294.
Unusually, it was the Old course which represented the harder challenge for the players over the three days of competition this year. In almost every other Boyd Quaich event it has been the Old which played the easier of the two.
Park certainly preferred the Old as he began the event with a superb bogey-free 66 over the historic links. At halfway he still had the lead on 139 but David Corben (Exeter) was only two shots behind after a 70 on the New and 71 around the Old for 141.
Richard Williams (U.W.I.C.) scored a fine 66 on the New but his second round 77 on the Old undid much of his good work. Defending champion Chris O’Hagan (Bournemouth) scored 69, 76 to be six behind after two rounds. Nine players were within four shots of the lead at the halfway stage.
Conditions in round three were very different from the first two rounds with a cold sea breeze making it difficult to keep the ball in play.
Phillip Dirkx (Napier), Craig Lindsay-Smith (Witwatersrand) and Joe Lockie (St Andrews) coped best and their rounds of 70 were excellent, propelling them up the leaderboard into joint-second and fifth positions overall.
Park’s 74 gave him a three-shot cushion with the final round on the Old to play. At this stage, 12 players were within five shots of Park and, with the weather forecast looking grim, local golfers Sommerville and Lockie must have fancied their chances of overtaking the Griffith University golfer.
Despite a topped 40yd tee shot on the first hole which must have dented his confidence, Park completed a final round of 78 to take the title from Sommerville (78).
Scoring was understandably high compared to the earlier rounds and a best-of-the-day 77 from Gerry Kelly (UCD) moved him through the field from eighth to third overall and into a tie with Bobby Rushford (Stirling).
The Boyd Quaich is run by the Athletic Union of the University of St Andrews, and receives significant grant aid from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the May Wong Smith Trust, with support from the St Andrews Links Trust. Without this financial help it would not be possible for many of these young golfers, especially from overseas, to be able to play in this prestigious event.
HOW THEY FINISHED
(Order of play: New-Old-New-Old).
1 Kevin Park (Griffith) 73-66-74-78-291.
2 Daniel Sommerville (Clayton State) 73-70-73-78-294.
3 Gerry Kelly (Uni College, Dublin) 70-72-76-77-295.
3 Bobby Rushford (Stirling) 73-72-73-77-295.
Unusually, it was the Old course which represented the harder challenge for the players over the three days of competition this year. In almost every other Boyd Quaich event it has been the Old which played the easier of the two.
Park certainly preferred the Old as he began the event with a superb bogey-free 66 over the historic links. At halfway he still had the lead on 139 but David Corben (Exeter) was only two shots behind after a 70 on the New and 71 around the Old for 141.
Richard Williams (U.W.I.C.) scored a fine 66 on the New but his second round 77 on the Old undid much of his good work. Defending champion Chris O’Hagan (Bournemouth) scored 69, 76 to be six behind after two rounds. Nine players were within four shots of the lead at the halfway stage.
Conditions in round three were very different from the first two rounds with a cold sea breeze making it difficult to keep the ball in play.
Phillip Dirkx (Napier), Craig Lindsay-Smith (Witwatersrand) and Joe Lockie (St Andrews) coped best and their rounds of 70 were excellent, propelling them up the leaderboard into joint-second and fifth positions overall.
Park’s 74 gave him a three-shot cushion with the final round on the Old to play. At this stage, 12 players were within five shots of Park and, with the weather forecast looking grim, local golfers Sommerville and Lockie must have fancied their chances of overtaking the Griffith University golfer.
Despite a topped 40yd tee shot on the first hole which must have dented his confidence, Park completed a final round of 78 to take the title from Sommerville (78).
Scoring was understandably high compared to the earlier rounds and a best-of-the-day 77 from Gerry Kelly (UCD) moved him through the field from eighth to third overall and into a tie with Bobby Rushford (Stirling).
The Boyd Quaich is run by the Athletic Union of the University of St Andrews, and receives significant grant aid from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the May Wong Smith Trust, with support from the St Andrews Links Trust. Without this financial help it would not be possible for many of these young golfers, especially from overseas, to be able to play in this prestigious event.
HOW THEY FINISHED
(Order of play: New-Old-New-Old).
1 Kevin Park (Griffith) 73-66-74-78-291.
2 Daniel Sommerville (Clayton State) 73-70-73-78-294.
3 Gerry Kelly (Uni College, Dublin) 70-72-76-77-295.
3 Bobby Rushford (Stirling) 73-72-73-77-295.
Labels: Student Golf
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Thursday, July 31, 2008
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