Florida monsoon weather delays start of Dixie

Amateur championship by 24 hours.

Bad weather in December is not the preserve of the British Isles.

You can read on http://www.kirkwoodgolf.co.uk/ that rain and snow in south-east Spain resulted in no play today in the second round of the Ladies European Tour Final Qualifying School at La Manga.

And over in Florida, the Dixie Amateur championship - won last year by Gavin Dear (Murrayshall) - should have started today but didn't because, to quote the championship website "Ten inches of rain in 12 hours is a bit out of the ordinary."

The Dixie Amateur championship is a four-stroke stroke-play tournament.

The first round has been put back to Sunday. The second round will be played on Monday and, for those who make the halfway cut, it will be a busy day on Tuesday when the last two rounds will be played back-to-back.

Scots competing in the event are US college students James Byrne (Banchory & Arizona State University) and Peter Latimer (Markinch & Guilford College, North Carolina). Peter, pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency, reached the quarter-finals of the Scottish amateur championship at Royal Troon back at the end of July.

The Scots who have made their way out from this country to compete at Heron Bay Golf Club, Coral Springs in Florida are Ross Kellett (Colville Park), his first outing since he reached the final of the Argentina open amateur championship, and Steve McEwan (Caprington).