LEFT: Wallace Booth "frustrated" ............................................................ RIGHT: James Byrne: Late disasters

Glasgow teenager

Hendrick up with

the stars after 68

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Pollok teenager James Hendrick, playing the course for only a second time, posted a three-under-par 68 in the early evening to snuggle up alongside Scotland star Gavin Dear in a share of third place at the end of the opening day of the Bidwells Scottish men’s open amateur stroke-play championship over the windswept Murcar Links today.
“I’m very happy with that, although a little bit disappointed that I bogeyed the last,” said 18-year-old Rangers supporter James (pictured this evening by Cal Carson Golf Agency) who was not considered good enough to play for Scotland at Under-18 level although he did win the West of Scotland boys stroke-play title last year.
“Ian Kennedy, the Mearns Castle coach, and I have worked very hard on my short game over the winter months and I’m definitely a much better player than I was last year. I feel a lot more confident when I’m on a golf course than I used to be.”
And so Master Hendrick should. On a day when the southeasterly wind off the North Sea blew many big names well over par, he birdied the first, seventh and ninth in a one-bogey, two-under-par 34 for the outward half.
Even turning into the wind did not slow down the Glasgow youngster's progress. Birdies at the 14th and 15th put him to four under par, needing to birdie one of the last three holes to join English teenagers Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Haines in the lead at five-under-par 66.
Hendrick parred the 16th and 17th but his wedge approach at the last went over the green into a tricky lie in a bunker. He did well to get his ball out of the sand at the first attempt but not close enough to save par.
Wallace Booth, watched by Walker Cup skipper Colin Dalgleish, shot a one-over-par 72 to trail teenage selection teenage rivals Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Haines who tamed a very strong wind to share the pole position on five-under 66.
Booth starts Round 2 six shots off the pace but he is definitely not discounting his chances of making a successful defence.
“I’m frustrated because I’m not getting the scores I feel my golf deserves,” said Wallace who got to two under par after eight holes, only to lose his momentum in the wind which made the inward half such a tough proposition.
“I feel as though I am just one good round away from getting my season really going. It’s going to happen soon, I know it will. It could be this weekend …”
Fleetwood from Formby Hall, Lancashire and Kent's Matt Haines (Rochester & Cobham Park) are foursomes partners for the England team.
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 par the last seven holes," said Fleetwood.
Haines, 19-year-old winner of last year's Lytham Trophy and runner-up in last weekend's Welsh open amateur stroke-play reckoned the three short holes were the most difficult on the course.”
"It was so difficult to club yourself correctly to allow for the effects of the cross wind,” he said..
In third place is the leading Scot in the R&A world rankings, 24-year-old Irish open stroke-play champion Gavin Dear 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.
“I took a week’s break after the Brabazon Trophy and it has affected me more than I thought it would. I had some kind of bug at the English stroke-play championship so I felt I needed a week with my feet up but picking up the timing again has been difficult, “ said Gavin who plans to turn professional at the end of September.
“I had some horrible practice sessions this past week and I still didn’t feel totally comfortable over the ball today. It was just a question of getting round and not making any silly mistakes. I think I hit two bad shots in the round, at the ninth and the 14th.”
Sandy Bolton, a 17-year-old member of the Cambridgeshire club, Magnolia Park, gave Scotland a third representative in top seven. He shared the 70 mark with Englishmen Richard Smith (Notts) and Dale Whitenell (Five Lakes), winner of the Portuguese open amateur title back in the spring.
The group on level par 71 included the Aberdeenshire pair of Barry Brooks and Nick Robson, who are both members of Meldrum House Golf Club at Oldmeldrum and also work for the same Aberdeen double glazing company.
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.
Late in a long day's place Fraserburgh Golf Club greenkeeper and many times club champion Kris Nicol came in with a tidy 71 (36-35). He bogeyed the 17th but birdied the 18th.
Banchory’s James Byrne, 20-year-old Arizona State University student, is on the same 72 mark as Wallace Booth and feeling just as frustrated as the title-holder.
The reason is that Byrne had an eagle at the ninth and birdies at the 10th and 11th and was still four under par with four holes to play.
Then it all unravelled quickly. He ran up a double bogey 6 at the 15th after driving into the middle of the fairway.
“I had a wedge in my hand for my approach and finished by three-putting from two feet away,” said James ruefully.
“That kind of knocked the stuffing out of me and I dropped a shot in a bunker at the 16th and took two to get out of sand from a terrible lie in another bunker at the 18th.”
Byrne could yet force his way back into the contention. He shot as low as a course-record 61 in winning the North-east District Open title at Newburgh-on-Ythan last summer. If the wind drops, that kind of score - one lower than Richie Ramsay's record mark in the Scottish Challenge at Murcar Links in 2006 - is definitely on the cards over a 6,500yd course which is short by championship standards these days.
Other Scots on 72 were Scottish schoolboys champion Chris Robb (Inchmarlo), Royal Aberdeen's Mark Halliday, Ross Kellett (Colville Park), Glenn Campbell (Blairgowrie), a past Scottish amateur match-play champion and winner of this year's Scottish champion of champions event at Leven, as well as last year's Scottish boys' open stroke-play champion Sam Binning (Sandyhills).
A total of 40 players and ties will survive the cut after 36 holes to contest Sunday's final two rounds.

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