Simon Fairburn wins 24-hole thriller against Harry Whittle

FROM THE SCOTTISH GOLF UNION WEBSITE
Recent winner of the Scottish Junior Champion of Champions Simon Fairburn (Torwoodlee) endured a marathon first round match before eventually edging out Woburn’s Harry Whittle at the sixth extra hole this afternoon at West Kilbride.
Fairburn, who also won last year’s Lothians Boys Championship, holed a crucial 10-foot putt at the 23rd hole to keep the game alive before closing his match out at the following hole as the rain finally eased on the Ayrshire coast.
The 17-year-old Galashiels Academy student said: “I’m very relieved to get through. It was very difficult out there but we had a good game and Harry holed a great 20-foot putt at the last to take us to extra holes. We both missed good chances so it could have gone either way, but it’s good to get a win under my belt and look ahead to the next round.”
Scotland Boys internationalist Scott Gibson, fresh from his recent Men’s Elite Squad trip to South Africa, had a comfortable afternoon with a 6&5 win over Michael McLennan (Greenock Whinhill), while Greg Marchbank (Thornhill), winner of the Scottish Golf Academy Winter Series was also a winner by the same margin.
Two interesting battles of the namesakes await in round two after Conor Neil (Mount Ellen) and Connor Neil (Blairgowrie) both won their opening round matches to set up a second round tie against each other, while Calum Hill (Muckhart) and Calum Hill (Tantallon) will also square up tomorrow.
Fraser Davren, a member of the five-strong Williamwood contingent, made it through to round two with a hard fought final-hole victory over Gullane’s Peter Leggett, although Davren’s clubmate Christie Gray went down 3&1 to Alva’s Lawrence Allan, a recent call-up to the Scotland U16s side.
As the torrential rain made way for late afternoon sunshine, the second round got underway with Mount Ellen’s Nicky Clenaghan wasting no time in being the first name into the third round draw. He raced to a 5&3 win over Andrew Young (Garmouth & Kingston), while one of the Championship favourites Jack McDonald is also through after a convincing 4&3 victory over Craigielaw’s Euan MacKay. McDonald will now face reigning Loretto School Scottish Boys U14s champion Bredley Neil, who eased through with a 4&2 win against Stephen Harrower (Kinross).
Credit must go to the West Kilbride greenkeeping staff with the course soaking up two days of almost constant rain and no greens flooding, with weather forecasters predicting a vast improvement in conditions for the rest of the week.
Click here for completed first round results and early second round results.