Another look at yesterday's first-round ties at Royal Troon

Dick, three up with three to play,

makes life difficult for himself

FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Admitting he'd got too far ahead of himself when he stepped on to the 16th hole dormie three up, Allyn Dick heaved a huge sigh of relief after coming through a tough first-round test in the Allied Surveyors Scottish Amateur Championship at Royal Troon.
On a day of mixed fortunes for Lothians players in the Scottish Golf Union's flagship event, the Kingsknowe player recovered from losing the last three holes – he paid the price for poor tee shots at each of them – to beat Nairn's Fraser Fotheringham at the 19th.
"That's what you call making life difficult for yourself," declared Dick, who had covered the opening 15 holes in level-par – a decent effort in a gusty cross wind – to put himself in a strong position against an opponent who reached the final of the British boys' championship two years ago.
After finding a bad lie with his drive at the 16th, Dick, a two-time Scottish mid-amateur champion who had a good win in the Cameron Corbett Vase earlier in the month, dumped his second in the burn before plugging a 4-iron tee shot into a greenside bunker at the next.
Giving Fotheringham even more encouragement, the 30-year-old Lothians player drove into the rough down the right at the last, tugged his second and, instead of tucking into a celebratory lunch in the clubhouse, was back on the first tee facing a sudden-death shoot-out.
To his relief, Dick's tee shot at the 19th just avoided a couple of nasty fairway bunkers and he duly made the most of that break, holing from 10ft for a birdie-3 before watching Fotheringham miss from slightly closer to prolong the encounter.
"I got a bit too ahead of myself and you can't do that on a course like this," reflected triple Dispatch Trophy winner Dick, who acknowledged that he faced another tough examination in the second round this afternoon against Greg Paterson from St Andrews New.
A semi-finalist 12 months ago, Paterson was too good for Graham Robertson in their encounter, the Silverknowes man having the door closed on him by a "cheeky" birdie from his opponent at the 14th.
James Ross, Zander Culverwell, Stuart Boyle, Myles Cunningham and Neil Henderson all joined Dick in round two but, disappointingly, Mark Hillson, the 2007 Lothians champion who reached the quarter-finals in the British amateur championship at Formby earlier in the year, suffered an early exit.
The Craigielaw man lost 2 and 1 to John Shanks from nearby Irvine, admitting afterwards that he'd been "putted off the course" by an opponent who was five up after five after covering that stretch in three-under-par.
Ross overcame an early rise – he was up at 5am to prepare for a 6.45am tee time – to progress at the expense of Glencruitten's Allan McKie, the 19-year-old Royal Burgess player always holding the upper hand en route to a 4 and 3 win.
Harburn 17-year-old Boyle, playing in the event for the first time, was one-under for the 12 holes he needed to beat Les Pirie (Millport), while Culverwell, the 2006 Lothians champion, was another comfortable winner on his return from a four-week lay-off due to an elbow injury, the 21-year-old from Dunbar crushing Nigg Bay's Dean Yeats.
Henderson, the 2007 SGU junior champion of champion from the Glen, reckoned a stroke of luck turned his match against Meldrum House's Nick Robson. Having just won the 11th to get back to one down, Henderson feared his ball was lost in the bushes at the 12th but, after finding it, was able to hit a 3-iron to a foot and went on to win 2 and 1.
Gavin Dear, the top seed, proved too strong for Tantallon's Joe Lockie, who never really recovered after three-putting the first, while Grant Forrest, the Scottish Under-16 champion from Craigielaw, had shanks at successive holes as he went down to Paul O'Hara.
Forrest, who was unable to fit in a practice round after only returning from the European Young Masters in France on Sunday night, had the consolation of hearing that he's been selected for the Boys' Home Internationals at Hankley Common next week.
After being three down with five to play, Stephen Buckley, the 2000 Scottish boys' champion from Royal Burgess, chipped in at the last to force extra-time only to lose to a par-4 from Fifer Peter Latimer at the 19th.