Dale Whitnell from Five Lakes, Essex, winner of the Portuguese open amateur championship after a play-off against another Englishman, Jamie Abbott (image by courtesy of Tom Ward Photography).

McNicoll top Scot as Whitnell beats

Abbott in Portuguese play-off

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Carnoustie's Keir McNicoll finished top Scot in a fog-shortened Portuguese men's open amateur golf championship dominated by English players at Troia Golf Resort, near Lisbon today.
So much time was lost with early-morning mist on Thursday and Friday that the second round was not completed until Saturday afternoon by which time the Portuguese Federation officials had decided to lop a round off the traditional 72-hole stroke-play championship.
St Andrews Links Trophy winner McNicoll came joint 13th on one-over-par 217 with rounds of 74, 71 and 72. He had two birdies (eighth and long 14th) and two bogeys (sixth and 10th) in his par-matching final round over what is rated one of the toughest courses in Portugal.
Greg Paterson (St Andrews New) had one of the best rounds of the final day - a three-under-par 69 - and that, coupled with earlier scores of 79 and 71, saw him finished a creditable joint 18th on 219.

In that final round, Paterson birdied the third, fourth, eighth, 10th and 17th in halves of 33 and 36. He bogeyed the 12th and 14th.
Aberdeen teenager David Law (Hazlehead) scored 77, 70 and 74 for joint 29th position on 221, running up a double bogey 6 at the 16th in his final round. A par 4 at that hole would have put Law alongside Paterson in the final totals.

Earlier in the round, David had birdied the sixth and 14th but bogeyed the third and fifth in halves of 37. In his first round 77, Laws had a triple bogey and two double bogeys.
Peterhead's Philip McLean was the only other Scot to survive the 36-hole cut. He finished joint 37th on 222 with scores of 76, 74 and 72.

Philip, like Law, a protege of Paul Lawrie, had two double bogeys over his first two rounds. In his par-matching final circuit, McLean bigdied the sixth,m eighth, 11th, 12th and 14th in halvges of 37 and 35. He dropped shots at the second, third, fifth, 13th and 15th.
Scots who failed to figure among the 57 players with totals of 150 or better who contested the final round were Eisenhower Trophy-winning heroes Wallace Booth (Comrie) and Gavin Dear (Murrayshall), who both missed out by one shot on 1511, Steven McEwan (Caprington) on 151, Paul O'Hara (Colville Park) on 153 and Scott Borrowman (Dollar) on 155 after an opening round of 83.
England provided four of the top seven finishers in the championship, including both participants in the sudden-death play-off which was required after Dale Whitnell from Five Lakes, Essex tied with compatriot Jamie Abbot (Fynn Valley, Suffolk) on six-under-par 210.
Twenty-year-old Whitnell won the play-off with a birdie at the second extra hole.
He had rounds of 71, 68 and 71, starting off his final round in glorious style with an eagle 3. Birdies at the fifth and seventh, either side of a bogey at the sixth, were cancelled out by a double bogey 6 at the eighth, which put him out in 35 but he fell back to level par again with a bogey at the 11th.
Eventually, it was a birdie at the 16th that got Whitnell into the play-off.
Abbot scored 73, 69 and 68 with birdies in his final round at the third, seventh, ninth, 11th, 13th and 14th. He had bogeys at the fourth, eighth and, crucially, another at the 15th. A par there would have won him the title with a total of 209. But 33 home for 68 put him on 210 and into a play-off situation.
Dutchman Reinier Saxton, winner of the British Amateur title at Turnberry last year, finished third with a closing 70 for 212, two strokes out of the play-off.
Luke Goddard, winner of the Argentine title in December was a creditable joint fourth on 213 with a second Dutchman, Jurrian Van Der Vaart who played the American college circuit for four years with first the University of Minnesota before a transfer to Virginia Tech.
Jurrian led the field after 36 holes but nosedived to a 76 with the pressure on over the final 18 holes.
Sam Hutsby was the fourth Englishman in the picture. He finished joint sixth with defending champion Pedro Figueiredo of Portugal on 214.

ALL THE FINAL TOTALS
(reduced to three rounds because of fog)
Par 216 (3 x 72)
210 Dale Whitnell (Eng) 71 68 71, Jamie Abbott (Eng) 73 69 68 (Whitnell won play-off at second extra hole).
212 Reinier Saxton (Net) 72 70 70.
213 Luke Goddard (Eng) 72 70 71, Jurrian Van Der Vaart (Net) 68 69 76.
214 Sam Hutsby (Eng) 72 66 76, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 69 72 73
215 Kalle Samooja (Fin) 75 70 70, Anders Kristiansen (Nor) 70 68 77
216 Shane Lowry (Ire) 75 71 70, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 73 71 72.
217 Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 76 71 70, Cian Curley (Ire) 74 71 72, Keir McNicoll (Sco) 74 71 72, Ben Westgate (Wal) 72 73 72.
218 Matt Haines (Eng) 77 69 72, Oliver Farr (Wal) 75 69 74.
219 Greg Paterson (Sco) 78 71 69, Alexandre Kaleka (Fra) 76 71 72, Andrew Hogan (Ire) 75 75 69, Stephan Wolters (Ger) 74 73 72, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 70 75 74, Edouard Espana (Fra) 79 66 74.
220 Dylan Boshart (Net) 75 73 72, Olivier Serres (Fra) 74 74 72, Mayel Cheikh (Fra) 73 75 72, Manuel Violas (Por) 75 71 74, Stanislas Gautier (Fra) 72 73 75.
221 David Law (Sco) 77 70 74, Niclas Carlsson (Swe) 75 75 71, Mikael Salminen (Fra) 75 72 73, Adam Runcie (Wal) 75 72 74, Stiggy Hodgson (Eng) 73 75 73, Miles Mackman (Eng) 72 75 74, Romain Schneider (Fra) 70 76 75, Eddie Pepperell (Eng) 72 73 76
222 Jason Barnes (Eng) 77 71 74, Philip McLean (Sco) 76 74 72.
223 Christopher Mivis (Bel) 78 70 75, Jake Shepherd (Eng) 75 75 73 James Taverner (Eng) 75 73 75, Craig Hinton (Eng) 75 72 76.
224 Darren Wright (Eng) 77 70 77, Jacob Roth (Den) 75 75 74, Leonard Motta (Ita) 73 71 80.
225 Richard Merchant (Wal) 76 73 76, Alexander Levy (Fra) 76 72 77, Billy Hemstock (Eng) 75 74 76, Miguel Gaspar (Por) 74 73 78, Luke Lennox (Ire) 73 75 77, Paul Cutler (Ire) 73 73 79.
226 Are Freistad (Nor) 77 73 76, Erwan Vieilledent (Fra) 74 73 79.
228 Elias Bertheussen (Nor) 77 72 79, Floris De Vries (Net) 75 75 78, Kevin Turlan (Fra) 71 79 78.
232 Julien Brun (Fra) 74 75 83.

MISSED THE CUT (150 or better qualified)
Selected scores
151 James Howie (Wal) 80 71, Jonathan Gidney (Eng) 79 72, Gavin Dear (Sco) 75 76, Todd Adcock (Eng) 78 73, Wallace Booth (Sco) 77 74, Dara Lernihan (Ire) 77 74, Tom Lewis (Eng) 76 75.
152 Richard Prophet (Eng) 77 75, Steven McEwan (Sco) 76 76.
153 Paul O'Hara (Sco) 80 73, Alan Dunbar (Ire) 78 75, Pat Murray (Ire) 76 77.
155 Scott Borrowman (Sco) 84 71, Jack Senior (Eng) 80 75.
156 James Webber (Eng) 78 78
158 Andy Sullivan (Eng) 76 82.