Bidwells Scottish open amateur stroke-play

MURCAR LINKS JOINT LEADERS: Tommy Fleetwood (left) & Matt Haines (images by Cal Carson Golf Agency).

England pair lead from

Gavin Dear in Murcar

Links wind

England foursomes partners Tommy Fleetwood from Formby Hall, Lancashire and Kent's Matt Haines (Rochester & Cobham Park) were "playing together" again - at the head of the first-day scoreboard in mid-afternoon on the windswept opening day of the Bidwells Scottish men's open amateur stroke-play championship at Murcar Links Golf Club, north of Aberdeen today.
Both clickety-clicked with five-under-par 66s on a day when a strong south-easterly wind coming in off the North Sea made life very difficult on the inward holes, even for a field of this quality.
Fleetwood and Haines, both members of the GB&I Walker Cup team short leet, both felt it was a "three-club wind," meaning that into it, for example, instead of a seven-iron it would have been a four-iron to cover the same distance, and so on.
Fleetwood, 18, from Southport was set to spreadeagle the field when he reached the turn in five-under-par 31 with birdies at the third, fourth, sixth , seventh and ninth in a flawless outward half.
"It was a different story into the wind. A real struggle, in fact, and I've got a bad cold, so I was really tired towards the end. I thought I did well to past the last seven holes," he said.
Fleetwood's only bogey came at the 10th where he pushed his second wide of the green into the wind and couldn't save par. His sixth and last birdie came at the 11th where he pitched to within a foot at this 367yd hole.
Haines, 19-year-old winner of last year's Lytham Trophy and runner-up in last weekend's Welsh open amateur stroke-play, had birdies at the second, fourth, ninth, 11th, 14th and 17th. He too had only one bogey, at the short fifth.
"I reckoned the three short holes were just about the most difficult on the course because it was so difficult to club yourself correctly to allow for the effects of the cross wind," said Haines who was out in 34 and home in 32.
In third place is the leading Scot in the R&A WAGR, 24-year-old Irish open stroke-play champion Gavin Dear (today's picture above by Cal Carson Golf Agency) from Scone. The Murrayshall member put together a 68 (34-34) after birdies at the first, fourth and 11th had him three under the card with seven to play. A 6 at the long 14th knocked him back but a birdie at the 15th saw him finish in a score he did not think possible at the start of the day.
Englishman Richard Smith (Notts) was on his own on the 70 mark.
The group on level par 71 included the Meldrum House Golf Club, Oldmeldrum pair of Barry Brooks and Nick Robson, who also work for the same window glazing company in Aberdeen.
Brooks turned in 34 with the help of an eagle 2 at the ninth. but dropped shots at the 16th and 17th. Still not a bad performance at all from a 50-year-old who won the Aberdeen Links championship when he wore a younger man's clothes.
Robson recovered from a bogey at the comparatively simple par-4 opening hole to birdie the second, fourth, eighth and 10th in halves of 35 and 36.