James Byrne, the hottest thing in Scottish amateur golf at the moment (Cal Carson Golf Agency images). Click on the image to enlarge.

It's that young man James Byrne again! Banchory player stars

in Open Regional Qualifying at Musselburgh with a 65

You just can't keep James Byrne down at the moment.

One of only two Scots to reach the last 16 of the British amateur championship at Formby ... winner by seven shots of the Tennant Cup 72-holer at the weekend ... and now, today, he shoots a terrific 65 to lead for most of the day in the Open Regional Qualifying competition at Musselburgh.

What a pity the Scotland team for the upcoming European team championship was chosen before Byrne hit his purple patch of form which has elevated his position in the R&A WAGR to fourth best Scot, which means he is actually officially rated more highly than two of the players who have been selected.

It might have been better had the Scottish Golf Union selectors delayed the team selection - based no doubt on R&A WAGR positions at that specific time - until after British amateur championship.

Late in the day, by a curious coincidence, Byrne was headed by the fellow Arizona State student Scott Pinckney whose improved form in the second half of the 2008-2009 US college circuit season cost the Scot his place in the AZU team of five for tournaments.

Great to see a field containing quite a few Tartan Tour pros headed by three young amaters - Pinckney, Byrne and last year's Scottish boys' match-play champion Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) who is a student at East Tennessee State>

QUALIFIERS

(A) denotes amateur
63 Scott Pinckney (US) (am).
65 James Byrne (Banchory) (am).
66 Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) (am).
67 Steven Taylor (Bothwell Castle), Mark Loftus (Cowglen).
68 Elliot Saltman (Archerfield Links), Chris Kelly (Cawder), Andrew Gunson (Shady Canyon) (am).
69 John Gallagher (Swanston), Jonnie Cliff (Murrayfield), Scott Henry (Cardross).
Reserves
70 James Hamilton (New Zealand) (am) (No 14), Michael Daily (Erskine) (am) (No 19), James McGhee (Turnhouse) (No 46), Malcolm Isaacs (Nairn Dunbar) (No 51).
NON-QUALIFIERS
70 Mark Barnard (Inchmarlo), Callum Nicoll (Prestwick), Zack Saltman (Archerfield Links).
71 Scott Jamieson (Cathkin Braes), Steven Buchan (Royal Aberdeen) (am), Philip McLean (Peterhead) (am), James Ross (Royal Burgess) (am), David Patrick (Elie SC), William Bremner (Edzell) (am).
72 Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw), Alan Reid (West Lothian), Steven Hume (Noah's Ark).
73 Alastair Love (Charleton), Carl Wahlin (Sweden), Paul Moultrie (Troon Portland) (am), Aaron Howard (Murrayshall) (am), Kenneth Glen (Royal Musselburgh), Paul Wardell (Whitekirk), Andrew Wallace (Glenbervie) (am), Brian Leishman (Gleneagles Hotel), Gordon Sherry (Kilmarnock Barassie)
74 Jason McCreadie (Buchanan Castle), Bobby Rushford (Grangemouth) (am), Alan Purdie (Kingsbarns), Myles Clapperton (Musselburgh) (am), Lee Harper (Archerfield Links), David Simpson (Malone) (am), Graeme Stewart (Gleddoch), Michael Main (Thornton) (am), Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills), Alfredo Da Corte (Italy), Stuart Robin (Prestwick St Nicholas), Scott Borrowman (Dollar) (am), Stewart Savage (Dalmuir).
75 Stephen Neilson (Dunbar) (am), Roberto Sebastian (Spain), Iain Kennedy, Mearns Castle), Liam McGowan (St Andrews New) (am), Ross Bell (Downfield) (am), Keith Aitken (Musselburgh) (am), Jamie Mackay (Kilmarnock (Barassie) (am), Lindsay Mann (Carnoustie), Ross Cameron (McDonald Ellon), Peter Brown (Aberdour) (am), Scott Stewart-Cation (Ladybank) (am).
76 Ronald Goudie (Machrie), John Yuille (Royal Burgess) (am), Duncan Stewart (Grantown on Spey), Alan Lockhart (Ladybank), Fraser Syme (Musselburgh) (am), Chris McCalman (unatt), Martin Stein (Craigielaw) (am).
77 Fraser McKenna (Balmore) (am), Richard Gill (Craigmillar Park) (am), Alistair Serrels (Royal Montrose) (am), Mark Hillson (Craigielaw) (am), Iain Galbraith (Scotland) (am), Walter Meiklem (Scotland) (am), Duncan Raitt (Murcar Links) (am), Stephen Murray (Troon Welbeck) (am).
78 Gordon Stevenson (Whitecraigs) (am), Craig Everett (Caldwell), Lee Vannet (Carnoustie).
79 Anthony Bews (Murcar Links) (am), Callum Trahan (Murcar Links) (am), Colin Mundie (Falkirk) (am), Scott Dixon (Marriott Dalmahoy), Allan McKie (Glencruitten) (am), David Addison (Kilmarnock Barassie) (am).
80 Yasushi Nakazaki (Japan), Mark Finlayson (Edzell), Nick Holligan (Royal Burgess), Clive Robertson (Green Haworth) (am), Duncan Williamson (Kirkhill).
81 Rick Valentine (Craigielaw), Andrew Barton (Cowal), Steven Rennie (Drumpellier) (am).
83 Francisco Pintor Smith (Spain) (am).
84 Jordan Findlay (Fraserburgh) (am).
85 Kieron Stevenson (Royal Troon)
87 Ian Sandbrook (Steigerwald), Alastair MacKenzie (Duddingston).
NRs Richard Clark (Bruntsfield Links), Steven Moir (unatt), Michael Sweenie (Turnberry).
Scratched - Kris Nicol (Fraserburgh) (am), Shiro Suzuki, Japan

'The way I'm playing, I just can't wait for the Final Qualifying,"
says James Byrne

MIKE AITKEN REPORTS
From the www.scotsman.sport.com website
Fuelled by the confidence of youth as he carded 65, six under par, during regional qualifying at Musselburgh, Banchory's James Byrne believes a spell of outstanding form will spur him on to contend for a place at Turnberry when he confronts the final hurdle for the Open in Ayrshire next month.
The 20-year-old amateur who attends Arizona State University, where Phil Mickelson and Paul Casey are among the alumni, was thrilled to post a round in East Lothian which included six birdies and an eagle 3 at the seventh. "It was all about good golf," he enthused.
"I was very steady and played with a lot of confidence. In fact, the way I'm playing I just can't wait for final qualifying because I feel I will have a great chance. I reached the last 16 of the Amateur last week at Formby and won the Tennant Cup at the weekend, so this was just a continuation of that good form. I was very positive from the moment I birdied the first."
In what turned out to be a friendly feud, Byrne's room-mate at college, Scott Pinckney, 20, from Phoenix, later set a new course record of 63, eight under, in blustery conditions at Musselburgh, thanks to a barrage of nine birdies, marred only by a bogey at the sixth.
"It was my best round ever," grinned the young American, whose white shirt and matching slacks hardly amounted to a flag of surrender."It all came together for me. I wanted to play in Scotland this summer and experience links golf in order to make me a better player. But I wouldn't be here if I wasn't a friend of James."
Andrew Gunson, 21, whose father, Brian, was director of golf at Turnberry before emigrating to the USA in 2001, returned to home turf from California to shoot 68, the same mark as pros Chris Kelly and Elliot Saltman.
"Because the Open is at Turnberry this year, the family decided to come back for a holiday," reported the student at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
"I entered qualifying in January and, hopefully, we'll be here a little longer."
On what was a grand day for the emerging amateurs, Troon's Michael Stewart, the Scottish boys' match-play champion in 2008, hopes local support will assist his quest to play in a major. With just 11 spots into local final qualifying on offer at Musselburgh for the field of 100 hopefuls to chase, Stewart chose to be adventurous in the quest to keep his Open dream alive.
"I played a practice round here for the first time on Tuesday and decided if I was going to make it through then I just had to be aggressive," observed the 19-year-old amateur.
"If you play sensible golf then you might not make it, because it's only one round. I hit lots of drivers and just went for it because I didn't want to leave anything out there."
In his comic golf novel, "The Amateurs," Scottish author John Niven describes the modern Open qualifying scene at Musselburgh as resembling a boy band convention. In reality, there was more of a mixture of mature campaigners and youthful aspirants in East Lothian, though no shortage of streaked highlights and iridescent polo shirts in the summer sunshine.
A Scottish internationalist attending East Tennessee State University at Johnson City, the exuberant Stewart plays out of Troon Wellbeck and is well acquainted with the links at Glasgow Gailes, Western Gailes and Kilmarnock Barassie which will decide who among the 150 final qualifiers earns one of the remaining dozen places available to join the world's leading golfers on the Ailsa.
"I know all the final qualifying courses really well and believe I will get fantastic support wherever I play next," he said. "This is the first time I've tried to qualify for the Open and it would be a dream to tee up at Turnberry. I played there in the Amateur championship last summer and, though I didn't make it through, I love the Ailsa. With all the changes which have been made to the links, it's going to be a really tough Open."
Mark Loftus, the Tartan Tour player who enjoys support from Paul Lawrie, the champion golfer at Carnoustie in 1999, was another dreaming the dream after signing for 67. The Cowglen golfer recalled how Lawrie himself was a qualifier for Carnoustie at Downfield ten years ago.
"That just goes to show anything is possible in golf, and when it's your day, it's your day."
For Gordon Sherry, whose glory days in the Open came in 1995 at St Andrews when he finished ahead of Tiger Woods, it was scorned opportunities on the greens which cost him dear.
"I just didn't get it in the hole," he rued after scoring 73.
Among the Scots who endured disappointment at some of the other 15 regional qualifiers held around the UK and Ireland yesterday was Gordon Strachan's son Craig, who returned 80 at Coventry.