CONOR O'NEIL MAKES IT NINE SCOTS QUALIFIERS IN SOUTH AFRICA

By COLIN FARQUHARSON Colin@scottishgolfview.com Conor O'Neil (Pollok) survived a seven-man play-off for the last two places in the field of 64 after the stroke-play qualifying rounds of the South African amateur match-play championship at Johannesburg Country Club. O'Neil had hit the limit mark of 150 with rounds of 74 and 76. Scottish youths champion Ewan Scott (St Andrews) headed the nine  Scots who qualified from a starting field of 143 players. Only three Scots failed to make it through to the match-play. Ewan Scott shot 71-69 for 140 and a share of sixth place among the 64 qualifiers after two rounds of stroke-play. He had five birdies sandwiched between bogeys at the second and 17th in his second round. Second top Scot was Scott Crichton (Aberdour) with 69-72 for 141 and a share of eighth place. Reinstated amateur Graham Gordon (Newmachar) and Jamie Savage (Cawder) were bracketed together in joint ninth place on two-under-142. Former Scottish amateur champion and past Walker Cup player Gordon had rounds of 74-68, his second round including six birdies, while Savage had four birdies. Ross Bell (Downfield) made it through in joint 26th place on level par 144 (73-71) while Fraser McKenna (Balmore) (72-73) and Graeme Robertson (Glenbervie) (75-70) also qualified in joint 33rd place on 145. Bell and Robertson have the misfortune to face each other in the first round of the match-play but at least it guarantees one Scot in the last 32! Ellon's Adam Dunton had rounds of 73-74 for 147 and a share of 44th place. Connor O'Neil (Pollok) hit the limit mark of 150 with rounds of 74-76 and was one of seven players in a play-off for the last two places in the match-play. James White (Lundin) (74-77) and Fraser Moore (Glenbervie) (76-75) missed out on the 151 mark. Michael Daily (Erskine) was a non-qualifier with a pair of 76s for 152. South African stroke-play champion Haydn Porteous earned the No 1 seed position by five shots with scores of 66 and 68 for 10-under-par 134. Toby Tree from Worthing, Sussex shared second place with three South Africans on 139. Tree scored 67-72. LEADING MATCH-PLAY QUALIFIERS Players from S Africa unless stated 134 H Porteous 77 78 139 J Rebula 72 67, J Buitendag 69 70, G Roux 69-70, T Tree (Eng) 67 72 SCOTTISH QUALIFIERS 140 E Scott (St Andrews) 71 69 (T6) 141 S Crichton (Aberdour) 69 72 (T8) 142 G Gordon (Newmachar) 74 68, J Savage (Cawder) 71 71 (T9) 144 R Bell (Downfield) 73 71 (T26) 145 F McKenna (Balmore) 72 73, G Robertson (Glenbervie) 75 7 (T33) 147 A Dunton (McDonald Ellon) 73 74. 150 C O'Neil (Pollok) 74 76  SCOTS' NON-QUALIFIERS 151 J White (Lundin) 74 77, F Moore (Glenbervie) 76 75 152 M Daily (Erskine) 76 76. SCOTS' MATCH-PLAY TIES Match 3 Graham Gordon v James Du Preez. Match 4 Adam Dunton v Eddie Taylor Match 5 Scott Crichton v Dylan Naidoo. Match 10 Ross Bell v Graeme Robertson  Match 17 Conor O'Neil v Jovan Rebula Match 26 Fraser McKenna v Keegan De Lange Match 27 Jamie Savage v Ruben Coetzee Match 29 Ewan Scott v Murray Smith     TO VIEW THE COMPLETE FIRST-ROUND DRAW CLICK HERE