Sam Hutsby v Reinier Saxton in Sunday 36-hole final

Dear loses to Dutchman in

Spanish semi-final

Gavin Dear (Murrayshall), pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, lost to British amateur champion Reinier Saxton (Netherlands) in the 18-hole semi-final of the Spanish men's open amateur championship at Royal Seville Golf Club today.
Dear, ninth of the 32 qualifiers for the match-play stages, had beaten No 1 seed Pontus Widegren (Sweden) by one hole in the morning quarter-finals.
But, in the afternoon, the Perth man, who helped Scotland win the Eisenhower Trophy world amateur team championship in Australia, never recovered from Saxton's brilliant start in which he birdied the first three holes to be three up on the fourth tee.
The Dutchman also won the sixth with a par to increase his advantage to four.
Dear did win back the seventh and eight with pars but fell three down again to a birdie by his opponent at the 12th.
The Scot, who won the Dixie Amateur championship in Florida over the Festive period, birdied to 15th to cut his deficit to two holes but halves at the next two holes ended the match 2 and 1 in favour of Saxton.
In the 36-hole final on Sunday, Saxton, the No 5 qualifier, will play England's Sam Hutsby from Liphook, Hampshire, who won at the 20th against France's Victor Dubuisson in the other semi-final. Hutsby, a past winner of The Duke of York Young Champions' Trophy at Dundonald Links, was the No 10 qualifier.
Hutsby, who is only 19 and a strong candidate for a Walker Cup team place at Merion, United States in September, also won the Spanish title in 2006 when he beat the then US amateur champion, Edoardo Molinari, by a convincing margin over 36 holes.

SATURDAY RESULTS

QUARTER-FINALS
G Dear (Sco) bt P Widegren (Swe) 1 hole.
R Saxton (Net) bt T Lewis (Eng) 5 and 4.
V Dubuisson (Fra) bt E Pepperell (Eng) 4 and 3.
S Hutsby (Eng) bt M Haines (Eng) 7 and 5.

SEMI-FINALS
Saxton bt Dear 2 and 1.
Hutsby bt Dubuisson at 20th.