St Andrews student Gordon

Stevenson wins Boyd

Quaich by four strokes

The 61st Boyd Quaich Memorial students’ international golf tournament at St Andrews was won today by local student Gordon Stevenson, the first home win for a year or two.
Stevenson managed to banish the memory of a potentially-disastrous 79 in his third round to finish on two-under par 286 and win by four strokes from Matthew Williams (Aston University). Stevenson, pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, began the tournament with an amateur course record of 64 on the New course on Tuesday before finishing the event with a solid 69 on the Old course today.
The international field of 71 golfers each completed 18 holes on the New course and 18 holes on the Old before the top 30 played a further 36 holes; 18 on each course.
Stevenson’s total score of 284 was just one stroke higher than the tournament record of 283 strokes, set in 1994 by South African C. Sanderson (Stellenbosch) and equalled by G. Duncan (Heriot Watt) in 2002.
The record score looked certain to be smashed until the 9th hole of the third round when Stevenson ran up a quadruple-bogey 7 en route to a round of 79 (+8) over the New Course. As he struggled, several players moved into contention and the joint best score of 70 was recorded by Marco Ciofresse (St Gallen) and Aaron O’Callaghan (Southeastern Louisiana) while Joe Campbell and Will Bowman (both North Carolina), and Daniel Sommerville (Dundee) made similar strides with their 71s.
By the end of the third round the field had become bunched with only five shots separating 15 players.
In a blustery final round it was Will Bowman (North Carolina) who made the first move with a birdie 3 at the opening hole but Stevenson soon took control as he reached the turn in 2 under par 34 with Bowman and Matthew Williams faltering.
Williams eventually claimed second place with a battling 73 and Bowman was one shot further back after his 74.
Stevenson managed the only bogey-free final round and was the deserved winner after a superb 69.
Daragh Coghlan (North Carolina) also finished strongly for 69. Three of the top five finishers were representing universities located in North Carolina.
*The Boyd Quaich is run by the Athletic Union of the University of St Andrews, and receives significant grant aid from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club with support from the St Andrews Links Trust. Without this financial help it would not be possible for many of these young golfers, especially from overseas, to be able to play in this prestigious event.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 286 (2x71, 2x72)
284 Gordon Stevenson (St Andrews) 64 72 79 69.
288 Matthew Williams (Aston) 71 71 73 73.
289 Joe Campbell (North Carolina) 76 72 71 70, Will Bowman (North Carolina) 70 74 71 74.
290 Darragh Coghlan (UNCG Greensboro) 73 73 75 69.
291 Aaron O’Callaghan (Southeastern Louisiana) 77 72 70 72, Joshua Clarke (Abertay)
71 73 73 74, Daniel Sommerville (Dundee) 70 75 72 74.
292 Scott Samuel (Canada) 71 75 76 70, Frazer McKenna (Southeastern Louisiana) 75 73 72 72.
294 Wilson Bowen (Stanford) 72 73 76 73, Christo Harms (Pretoria) 75 70 73 76.
296 Gerard Kelly (University College, Dublin) 73 70 78 75, Philipp Dirkx (ESL Grenoble)
73 74 72 77.
297 Neil McBride (Clayton State, Atlanta) 76 73 75 73, Marco Cioffrese (St Gallen HSG) 76 73 70 78.
298 John Wybar (Aberdeen) 75 72 73 78.
299 John Greene (University College, Dublin) 72 73 77 77, Kevin Duncan (Clayton State, Atlanta) 67 75 77 80, Patrick Brimmer (Loughborough) 73 73 73 80, Kevin Stack (University College, Cork) 73 70 75 81.
300 Stephen Pointon (St Andrews) 74 72 78 76
301 Jack Owens (Ulster) 72 76 80 73
302 Ben Wescoe (Yale) 76 73 74 79
304 Nicholas Powell (Guelph) 74 75 81 74
307 Aaron Taylor (Ulster) 75 74 81 77
309 Christopher Robinson (Cambridge) 75 75 77 82
313 Matthew Fowler (Leeds Metro) 76 74 77 86
314 Nick Clark (Toronto) 78 72 84 80
316 Adam Kyle (Brighton) 71 79 75 91