James Byrne top Scot in R&A World Amateur Rankings for first time By COLIN FARQUHARSON Banchory's James Byrne, 20, now in his third year as a student at Arizona State University, has become the top Scot in the latest R&A World Amateur Golf Rankings for the first time - due in part to a quirk of the points allocation system. Byrne has gone up 14 places in the re-ranking to No 42 while Ross Kellett (Colville Park), who had the honour of being the top-ranked Scot when Gavin Dear turned pro, has gone down three places to No 53. Byrne himself explained the situation in an E-mail to me: "The rankings run on a 52-week running total, and we are now into Week 43. Last year, during Week 43, I played in a junior college tournament in San Diego to get some competitive golf in, and I was disqualified for signing for a wrong score in the final round. I only scored 11 points. "Since that tournament has now been pushed out of my year-long total, I have consequently moved up the rankings. In Week 44 last year, I played in a similar tournament and scored very poorly. I placed well down the field and scored just 12 points, so there will be a similar change next week too." Latest top 10 in WAGR: 1 Nick Taylor (Can) 1311.69, 2 Matteo Manassero (Ita) 1301.52, 3 Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 1272.50, 4 Matt Hill (Can) 1192.42, 5 Morgan Hoffman (US) 1179.69, 6 Bud Cauley (US) 1177.19, 7 Russell Healey (US) 1160.00, 8 Nicol Van Wyk (SAf) 1135.71, 9 Peter Uihlein (US) 116.92, 10 Stiggy Hodgson (Eng) 1080.36. Selected rankings: 12 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 1072.92, 13 Matt Haines (Eng) 1042.86, 19 Darren Renwick (Eng) 103.467, 20 Chris Paisley (Eng) 1010.20, 28 Jamie Abbott (Eng) 974.47, 29 Matthew Nixon (Eng) 97.43. Scots in top 500 of WAGR: 42 James Byrne 938.71. 53 Ross Kellett 923.94. 156 Glenn Campbello 797.92. 174 Mark HIllson 785.25. 204 Michael Stewart 764.91. 232 James White 743.33. 234 David Law 742.59. 320 Philip McLean 685.00. 373 Steven McEwan 656.96. 448 Kevin McAlpine 625.00.