HOLE IN ONE BY JAMES BYRNE IN

ARGENTINA CHAMPIONSHIP

Three of the four Scots competing in the qualifying rounds of the Argentina men’s open amateur golf championship have made a very good start at Buenos Aires Golf Club.
Two stroke-play rounds will decide the 64 qualifiers for the match-play stages and Ross Kellett (Colville Park) and Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) were tied for fourth place with three-under-par 69s in the first round.
Stewart, who made the trip to Argentina from the United States where he is a second-year student at East Tennessee State University, raced to the turn in five-under-par 31 with birdies at the first, second, fifth, seventh and eighth. He had more bogeys than birdies at the turn, dropping shots at the 14th, 16th and 18th with only one additional birdie,a t the 15th, in a three-over-par inward half of 38.
Kellett was four under par at the turn with birdies at the first, second, eighth and ninth. He got down to five under with a birdie at the 13th but that was as good as it got for the Motherwell man who finished runner-up in the European individual amateur championship this year.
Kellett bogeyed the short 14th and long 15th in taking 37 shots for the inward half.
James Byrne (Banchory), who also made the trip to South America from the States where he is a student at Arizona State University, was sharing 10th place after a 70 which included a hole in one at the short fifth and an eagle 3 at the second.
Also in an outward half of four-under 32, Byrne, pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency, birdied the seventh and bogeyed the third. He came off the boil in an inward 38 with bogeys at the 12th and 16th.
Scottish men’s and boys’ champion David Law (Hazlehead) is sharing 55th place after a 75 (39-36). The Aberdonian’s only birdies came at the first and 10th in halves of 39 and 36. He bogeyed the third, fifth, sixth, ninth and 16th.
Argentina’s Julian Lerda led the first qualifying round by two shots with a seven-under 65.

FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND
Par 72
Leading scores
65 Julian Lerda (Arg).
67 Benedict Staben (Ger).
68 John Allen (Ger).
69 Martin Kim (Arg), Tomas Cocha (Arg), Ignacio Elvira (Spa), Ary Rodriguez (Arg), Ross Kellett (Sco), Michael Stewart (Sco).
Selected scores:
70 James Byrne (Sco) (jt 10th).
72 Eddie Pepperell (Eng), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) (jt 23rd).
75 David Law (Sco) (jt 55th).