David Law rallies under pressure to win

18th and 19th in 'British' thriller

FROM THE ROYAL & ANCIENT WEBSITE
Portugal’s Pedro Figueiredo has progressed to the second round of the 2009 Boys Amateur Championship at Royal St George's Golf Club, Sandwich in Kent after overcoming Max Orrin 3 and 2.
Figueiredo, 18, who is destined to take up a golf scholarship at UCLA (University of California-Los Angeles) in autumn, birdied three holes and bogeyed four in a performance which displayed his competence and consistency in equal measure.
“I played pretty solid. I didn’t give many chances to my opponent,” he said. “It wasn’t brilliant but I played steady and hit lots of greens.”
The thought of winning back-to-back titles is one which has spurred him on during a difficult season in which he has battled with a back injury.
“This year has been a hard year. But I stopped for three weeks since the European Boys and I feel better now. I think my game is coming back.
“This is a marathon, this tournament,” Figueiredo continued. “It’s always very nice when you win a tournament and you have a chance to do it again.
“I know it’s very difficult, but I’m going to try to do it.”
In the other big story of the morning, 2007 Boys Amateur champion, Emilio Cuartero, suffered defeat at the 20th hole to England’s Dean Fallon.
Fallon, who has been combining golf with a carpentry apprenticeship, looked certain for victory as he approached the 14th tee four holes up. But four consecutive birdies from the Spaniard redressed the balance and the pair reached the last all-square.
“I was four up with five to play and I was thinking steady pars to win,” explained Fallon, 18. But he finished with four birdies to be all square going up 18.
“I felt ok on the tee. I’d been hitting it well all day and although I knew he was coming off a good bounce and was pretty pumped up, I stuck to what I knew and it worked.”
Both made pars on 18, after missing eight-foot chances, and on 19, before a lob wedge to one foot from seventy yards out sealed victory for the Englishman.
“It was just a good round of golf, I played well.”
For Cuartero, therefore, there will be no repeat of his 2007 performance despite showing flashes of the brilliance that has drawn praise from all quarters of the golfing world. Meanwhile, Figueiredo marches on.
Noteworthy winners of early second-stage ties were England’s Eddie Pepperell and Scotland’s David Law.
Pepperell defeated Jorge Simon of Spain in emphatic style, prevailing 8&7 in his second victory to be sealed well short of full distance. “I don’t remember what the last few holes are like!” said the 18-year-old who has played just 24 holes in reaching the third round.
Aberdeen’s David Law was involved in an altogether more tense affair. One down playing the last against Callum Brown, Law looked like going down to the Englishman. But the Scottish Boys and Scottish Amateur champion rallied to win the 18th and 19th and with them a place in the next round.
“I’ve had quite a lot of experience of extra holes in tight games,” noted Law. “I feel more comfortable now than I might have done six months ago.”
Full reports and results of each day's play appear on www.RandA.org throughout the day.
Click here for full results from Tuesday's matches.