Gordon Yates (left) and Ross Kellett (images by Cal Carson Golf Agency) report below from China.

Gordon Yates beaten in play-off

for Asia-Pacific Open title

Since Messrs Macaulay, Booth and Dear won the Eisenhower Trophy world amateur team championship, things have continued to go well on the overseas international front for Scottish amateur golfers.

Gavin Dear became the first Scot ever to win the prestigious Dixie Amateur title over the Festive period in Florida.

Now Gordon Yates has gone very close to winning the Mission Hills Asia-Pacific Open amateur title in China where Ross Kellett was also representing the Scottish Golf Union.

Here, courtesy of the Scottish Golf Union website, are reports from both players

Gordon Yates:

“I finished tied second, beaten in a three-way play off for the 2009 Asia Pacific Open Amateur Championship. Some of my highlights from today's final round would have been the 55ft birdie putt I holed on the second hole, par 5.

"I then failed to get up and down for par on the par 3 fifth hole, a hole that I played +3 for the week! I then had a string of pars until the 15th where once again, I shor- sided myself from the tee shot and failed to get up and down.

"One final twist to the regulation round: I birdied the long 17th, holing a 35ft putt from the lower tier of the green. In the play-off itself I had a good look at a birdie on the first hole, narrowly missing on the left, breaking at the final second away from the hole!

"Then I hit a poor approach into a greenside bunker in the second hole, where the eventual winner (French international Alexandre Kaleka) hit a three-iron to within 3ft to win.

"For me, it is a fantastic start to the season, I didn't expect to play quite so well as I haven't been on a course since the training camp in Portugal at the end of November. Also having to practise off mats in the cold, snow, rain - the typical Scottish winter - wasn't the best preparation for China as most of the competitors are in their mid-summer and playing regularly. However I managed to adapt to conditions straight away which was a massive bonus.
"I have made some big swing changes with my coach Spencer Henderson so it is nice to see them working so well so early in the season. Hopefully I can maintain the form on to Australia for the Lake Macquarie Amateur and New South Wales Amateur.”

Ross Kellett:

“I finished tied 31st at Mission Hills. Considering my early scores weren't great I didn't finish all that badly. For the first tournament of the season I was happy with how I played. I hit lots of quality shots. However, I hit a few errant ones as well which cost me around 10 shots. "Considering the weather we have been practising in all winter, I’m pretty happy with how things have gone.
"This has been a nice warm-up for next week in Australia. Hopefully I will start scoring a bit better when I get down under.
"Mission Hills is an unbelievable place, like nothing we've ever seen before. No stone is left unturned in any department of the facility, hotel or golf course. It has been a great experience.”

FINAL TOTALS

Par 288 (4 x 72)

289 Alexandre Kaleka (France) 73 73 71 72, Gordon Yates (Scotland) 71 70 76 72, Mithun Perera (Sri Lanka) 76 75 68 70 (Kaleka won three-way play-off at second extra hole).

290 Ryan McCarthy (Australia) 72 77 70 71.

291 Wen Ting Wu (Taipei) 72 72 71 76.

292 Shunsuke Sonoda (Japan) 75 71 70 76, Chi Hsien Hsieh (Taipei) 72 75 72 73.

293 Chien Yao Hung (Taipei) 77 70 74 72.

294 Ferdinard Aunzo (Philippines) 71 76 74 73, Shingo Ito (Japan) 70 76 76 72.

295 Grant Scott (Australia) 77 74 72 72, Vikram Rana (India) 78 75 73 69, James Frazer (Wales) 77 68 75 75, Vasin Sripattranusorn (Thailand) 73 72 75 76.

Selected scores:

302 Alex Christie (England) 72 80 71 79 (jt 22nd).

307 Ross Kellett (Scotland 76 80 72 79 (jt 31st).

310 Gary King (England) 81 72 76 81 (jt 37th).