ROOKIE JAMES BYRNE SPREADEAGLES NORTHERN OPEN FIELD ... HEADS FOR FIRST PRO WIN
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Calcarsongolf@btinternet.com
Rookie James Byrne is poised to score his first win as a professional. A third four-under-par 66 in a row from the 23-year-old for 12-under-par 208 has spreadeagled the Aberdeen Asset Management Northern Open championship field.
 Going into Friday's fourth and final round at Meldrum House Golf Club, Oldmeldrum the strapping six-footer from Banchory leads by six shots and surely has one hand on the £4,000 winner's cheque.
His nearest rivals – defending champion David Law (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre), who shot the week's lowest score, a 63, David Orr (Mearns Castle), 66, and twice former title winner Jason McCreadie (Buchanan Castle), 68 – are sharing second place on 204.
Greig Hutcheon (Banchory), winner two years ago and only two shots behind Byrne at the halfway stage, bogeyed the last two holes and dropped back to fifth place with a 71 for 205.
Byrne oozed confidence after leading by two shots af halfrway and he played his third round like a man who has suddenly found the secret of reeling off good scores after months of under-achieving, mainly due to one or two destructive holes per round or tournament.
This is just about his first tournament since he turned pro after the Walker Cup victory at Balgownie last September in which he has all but eliminated the negative and accentuated the positive.
He had only one bogey, at the third, yesterday and he "killed" the par-5 holes with a pair of eagle 3s at the 11th and 16th and a birdie 4 at the fifth in halves of 35 (level par) and 31 (four under).
"I drove the ball well and I am in a pretty ideal position after three rounds," said Byrne.
"I've stuck to my game plan through the first three days and it has paid off. I'm 12 under par for the par-5s so that gives me the confidence to know I can go out and score low.
"Cypress Point in California is my favourite course but Meldrum House runs it pretty close. This must be the best inland course in Scotland and we're lucky to have it for the Northern Open."
His eagle at the par-5 11th would have made great television.
"I hit a hybrid club for my second and the ball hit the flagstick and rebounded about 40ft away. But I was able to hole it from there for a 3," said Byrne.
"For my second eagle, at the long 16th, I hit a drive and a six-iron to 8ft and holed the putt."
Normally Byrne would have been looking to birdie or eagle the almost driveable par-4 17th but he was happy to par it this time round.
"It was a different wind today, coming from the northwest, and I hit a tree about 100yd from the tee with my drive. Fortunately for me, the ball came straight down and I was able to get on in two and two-putt.
"Greig (Hutcheon, his playing partner) was not so lucky at this hole. He lost a ball and it cost him a bogey."
The spring was back in the step of defending champion David Law as he came off the 18th green, having compiled a seven-under 63, which most of his competitors found hard to believe.
"Conditions were more difficult with that different wind and I have to give credit to my caddie, Nick Macandew, who made a huge difference. He is really good in the wind. Nick caddied for me last year when I won the Northern Open so we make a good team," said Law.
"I struggled with my putting over the first two rounds but I had an hour on the practice green last night and that paid off today. Paul Lawrie also found the time to give me an hour's lesson on Monday morning, despite his hectic schedule, and that has helped my short game tremendously this week.
Law reached the turn in three-under-par 32 with only two par figures.
He birdied the first and second, bogeyed the third and fourth and then birdied the fifth, eighth and ninth.
"I birdied the 14th where I almost holed my second with a nine-iron, hitting it to within inches of the stick. I did just about the same the day before so that hole's been good to me.
"Then I got an eagle 3 at the long 16th with a six-iron second and a 12ft putt before I finished with a birdie 2, hitting an eight-iron off the tee and holing from 15ft. This is the time of season for me to run into form. I had a 62 in the third round of the Northern Open last year so that's how long it takes to get me going."
Also on 204 alongside Law is David Orr (pictured right) who matched Byrne's 66.
"My main business nowadays s teaching at Mearns Academy Golf Centre, which does not leave me much time for practising but teaching gives me a different kind of 'kick' from tournament golf, " said Orr, the 2009 Scottish PGA champion who once drove a taxi to make ends meet.
"So I'm quite pleased that I can come back into competitive play in a tournament like the Northern Open and do quite well."
Aberdeen's Greg McBain shot his third 69 (36-33) in a row to be joint sixth on 207, nine shots off Byrne's blistering pace.
"I've managed to score well even though I haven't putted well," said the 28-year-old McBain (pictured below) who plays out of the Gamola Golf Shop in Aberdeen's Market Street where he helps out when he is not golfing.
"I bogeyed the seventh and eighth and had to work had to get the strokes back. I did birdie the ninth from eight feet but bogeyed the 11th after find a poor lie in a bunker."
Then came McBain's best run of the day. He holed a nine-iron approach from 155ft for an eagle 2 at the 12th and followed that with birdies at the 16th and17th.
Needing a par 3 at the last for what would have been his best score of the week, McBain hit his tee shot "fat" with an eight iron and took three more to get down from the front edge of the green.
Ellon's Adam Dunton has lost the lead in the amateurs' battle for the Bookless Cup.
Greig Marchbank, pictured right, the Scottish boys stroke-play champion from Dumfries, has taken up the running in that race after a great score of 65 for 208.
He is two ahead of Dunton, who had a 71, and Paul Shields (Kirkhill) who returned a 70.
"I just had to grind it out today," said Dunton. "I didn't play particularly well but I was pleased that I did not drop a lot of shots. I holed quite a few eight or 10-footers to save par,"
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