KRIS NICOL RISES IN 172 PLACES
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IN WORLD AMATEUR RANKINGS
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By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Fraserburgh Golf Club greenkeeper's Kris Nicol's runner-up finish in the prestigious Lytham Trophy in Lancashire at the weekend has seen him soar 172 places in this week's R&A updated World Amateur Golf Rankings.
Over the past year or so, Kris, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, has been steadily putting together a list of good performances, including winning last year's North of Scotland open amateur stroke-play championship, but this was by far his best yet, given the quality of the opposition.
Nicol has risen to No 377. He still has eight Scots ahead of him, including James Byrne (Banchory), the top Scot in 36th place.
With the decision of Italian teenager Matteo Manassero to turn professional, there is a new No 1 world amateur - American Peter Uihlein. Canadian Nick Taylor is No 2 and Tommy Fleetwood, the Englishman who won last year's Scottish men's open amateur title at Murcar Links, has gone up three places to No 3.
New R&A WAGR leading positions
1 Peter Uihlein (US) (up 3 places).
2 Nick Taylor (Can) (+1).
3 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) (+3).
4 Victor Dubuisson (Fra) (-2).
5 Bud Cauley (US) (+2).
6 Jonathan Randolph (US) (+2).
7 Patrick Reed (US) (+2).
8 Jesper Kennegard (Swe) (+10).
9 David Lingmerth (Swe) (+1).
10 Russell Henley (US) (+1).
Scots in the top 1000 of the world rankings:
36 James Byrne (-1).
42 Ross Kellett (+1).
174 Michael Stewart (+7).
260 Glenn Campbell (+7).
271 James White (+62).
280 Stuart Ballingall (+1).
306 Philip McLean (+59).
358 Mark Hillson (-78).
377 Kris Nicol (+172).
424 David Law (-24).
525 Bobby Rushford (+1).
551 James Hamilton (-94).
583 Greg Paterson (-4).
610 Steven McEwan (-37).
642 James Ross (+41).
643 Fraser McKenna (-40).
657 Scott Crichton (-4).
666 Peter Latimer (no change).
668 Daniel Sommerville (+1).
683 Gordon Yates (+6).
726 Gordon Stevenson (-3).
739 Craig Watson (-8).
770 Mark Bookless (-41).
789 Paul Ferrier (+7).
816 Scott Borrowman (-10).
853 Paul Shields (-15).
872 Steven Rennie (-19).
889 Sam Binning (-18).
910 Fraser Fotheringham (-13).
922 Ross Crowe (-18).
937 Paul Betty (-13).
941 Andrew Gunson (-11).
955 Michael Daily (-14).
975 Alexander Culverwell (-18).

Editor's note: If, like me, you are wondering who "James Hamilton," the Scot at No 551 is - I can tell you that he is a New Zealand amateur who played in the British amateur championship at Turnberry a couple of years ago and, on Sunday, finished seventh in New Zealand's Tauranga Open which is open to professionals and amateurs.