Fraser McKenna in last eight of
British boys' championship

FROM THE R&A WEBSITE
Three Englishmen, a Scot (Fraser McKenna from the Balmore club), a German, a Swiss, an Italian and a Portuguese will contest the quarter-finals of the Boys Amateur Championship at Little Aston in Birmingham today.
On a gripping afternoon when thunder and lightening in the area caused suspension of play for over an hour and a half, several fancied players bowed out, including Garth McGee and Michael Durcan, members of last week’s winning Irish side in the Home Internationals at Royal County Down.
McGee from Malone lost 2&1 to Lancastrian Charles Durnian, son of former European Tour player Denis, who now plays on the Seniors Tour, while Co Sligo’s Durcan was beaten 4&3 by Somerset’s Matt Kippen from the Enmore Park club near Bridgewater.
Durnian, whose biggest goal is to play in the Walker Cup before contemplating a professional career, spends five months of the year in South Africa where he is under the watchful eye of professional Gavan Levenson, a friend of his dad’s on the Seniors Tour.
The likeable Lancastrian hit back from a bad start and found himself two down after three holes.
“I won six and eight with birdies to get back to level after nine, then I won 12 with a birdie to go in front and then we shared the next four holes in par."
Durnian was on the green at the 17th in two and McGee’s approach had spun back into the water alongside the green when play was halted, and when they returned an hour and a half later Durnian got his regulation par to clinch the match.
Durcan came up against an opponent on top of his game in Kippen.“I’ve played really well this season, said Kippen. “I’ve won 12 stroke play events, including the English Schools at Kendleshire, the South West and Somerset Championships and other open events and I’ve kept it going here this week.
“I lost the first to a birdie, then I drew level on the third, birdied four and eight and he lost a ball on six and bogied nine so I was four up at the turn. After the rain break Michael birdied 12 to get back to three, then I birdied 14 and we halved the 15th.”
Kippen didn’t have a practice round as he was playing in his club championship on Sunday. “I finished second to my older brother Alex, which is a bit disappointing, but I’ve made up for it here.”
He will now meet one handicapper Levi Johnson from the Canterbury club in Kent, a surprise 2&1 winner over fancied Dane Lucas Bjerregaard.
“I only just got into the championship with my handicap,” said Johnson. “So I’m very pleased with how I’ve done so far. I got off to a good start with birdies at the first two to go two up ad was never behind after that.”
Johnson sealed the match with a 15ft birdie putt at the 17th, with his opponent just two feet away for his birdie. "I was for under par for the day so I played really well," he added.Scot Fraser McKenna, who plays at the Balmore club in Glasgow, beat Kevin Hesbois from Belgium by one hole after his rival drove into a bunker on the last and he took the match with a regulation par.
“I was two down after four, won the sixth and then chipped in off the green at the tenth to get back to level. He won the par three 13th with a par, then I won the 15th when he got into trouble. We halved the 16 in pars and the 17th in birdies then after he got into bunker on the last all I had to do was get a par.”
Fellow Scot David Law (Hazlehead) from Aberdeen was edged out at the 19th by Cristiano Terragni from Italy.
One player to get through on the last was Switzerland’s Victor Honauer when his opponent 16-year-old Ben Herbert from Clacton-on-Sea in Essex lost a ball off the tee.McKenna now meets Durnan, while the other two quarter-finals are all European affairs.
German Moritz Lampert meets Honauer in the second semi-final while the fourth is between Portugal’s Pedro Figueiredo and Italian Cristiano Terragni, who lost in the semi-finals at Royal Porthcawl last year.
Click here for full results from Little Aston.