Last Scot standing loses after being three up on 12th tee

Hillson bows out in quarter-finals

of Amateur at windswept Formby

FROM THE R&A WEBSITE

The quarter-final stage of the 2009 Amateur Championship has been completed, with four players securing their place in this afternoon’s semi-finals as high winds swept across the Lancashire links at Formby Golf Club.
Matteo Manassero got the better of 2008 runner-up, Tommy Fleetwood, in the first match of the day. Teeing-off at 8.15am, the sixteen-year-old Italian looked more comfortable in the difficult conditions than local lad Fleetwood, who is two years Manassero’s senior.

The Italian had built up a two-hole lead as the pair rounded the turn and, despite being pulled back to all-square on the 12th, always looked likely to re-establish his advantage, which he duly did to win 2&1.
The most impressive of the morning’s performances, however, came from Walker Cup contender, Sam Hutsby, 18, who defeated the Netherlands’ Jurrian Van Der Vaart 5&4.

The Englishman started smartly with a par and two birdies in the first three holes to take an early three-hole lead. The Dutchman pulled it back to level on the sixth after some excellent play, but Hutsby was to re-assert his dominance, winning the next four holes and eventually completing a 5&3 victory.
Finishing shortly afterwards, Game Two saw two former R&A Scholars, Scotland's Mark Hillson, pictured above, and England’s Darren Renwick, contest a place in the last four. The Scot looked favourite as he reached the 12th tee with a three-hole cushion, but Tennessee University student Renwick, found a terrific vein of form, taking the next three to pull level.

Holes were exchanged over a gripping final stretch, before Renwick took 17 and 18 to seal the match.
Completing the semi-finalists is England’s Stiggy Hodgson, after he ended the challenge of Sweden’s Nils Floren’s on the 18th. It was a closely fought encounter with neither one of the players ever going more than two holes up. But it was Hodgson who was to shine on the back nine, playing consistent golf in the swirling breeze; a birdie at the last after a sublime pitch (main picture), enough to triumph by two-holes.
This morning's results:

QUARTER-FINALS

Matteo Manassero (Italy) bt Tommy Fleetwood (England) 2 and 1.

Darren Renwick (England) bt Mark Hillson (Scotland) 2 holes.

Sam Hutsby (England) bt Jurrian Van der Vaart (Netherlands) 5 and 3.

Stiggy Hodgson (England) bt Nils Floren (Sweden) 2 holes.

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