EWAN SCOTT TAKES LEAD AT HALFWAY IN BATTLE TROPHY AT CRAIL

By COLIN FARQUHARSON Colin@scottishgolfview.com  Scottish youths champion last year, Ewan Scott (St Andrews) is on the trail of his first SGU Order of Merit tournament victory. Ewan, pictured, beaten in the Scottish Boys U18 match-play final for the past two years, leads the Battle Trophy 72-hole tournament by one stroke at the halfway stage over the Craighead Links at Crail Golfing Society after rounds of 74 and 69 for one-under-par 143. Scott birdied the first, fourth, sixth, eighth and 13th in his three-under-par second round. A bogey at the 18th deprived him of a two-shot cushion going into the Sunday 36 holes. His only other bogey in the second round came at the seventh. The CSS on a windy day was 77 for the first round and 76 for the second against a par of 72. Scott's nearest rivals are two comparatively unknown golfers at this level of the game - Englishman William Bowe from Workington on 144 (73-71) and Alan Sutherland (Ladybank) on 146 (73-73). The most experienced player in the leading group with two rounds to go is Kingsknowe's Allyn Dick, a winner more than once of SGU Order of Merit events. He is poised for a second-day surge on 147, although his second-round 76 does not suggest he will be full of confidence about the task in hand. It was Dick who had the shot of the day. Straddling the wall behind the 10th, after almost going out of bounds, he played a trick shot of Jeremy Dale proportions to hole it for a 3! First-round leader Bradley Neil (Blairgowrie), the new Scottish U18 boys' champion sagged from an opening 71 to a 78 for 149 and a share of ninth place. James Hendrick (Pollok) had a 10 at the first hole in the first round but wrongly signed for a 12. He missed the cut by one shot. Players with 36-hole aggregates of 157 and better qualified for Sunday play. Recovery of the day was easily Graeme Robertson's. He followed a scrappy 81 with a sparkling 69 for 150, to be seven shots off the pace. The Glenbervie man birdied the sixth, 10th, 14th and 15th second-time round with his only bogey coming at the 17th. A back nine of 33 on Craighead is "really good golf," according to organiser David Roy. Former Scottish amateur champion Barry Hume (Haggs), now reinstated to the unpaid ranks after a pro career that never got off the ground, had a "No Return" in his second round of this comeback on the amateur circuit. He had three double bogeys in the first eight holes of the second round after a first-round 75. SECOND-ROUND TOTALS Par 144 (2x72) CSS 77 76 143 E Scott (St Andrews) 74 69. 144 W Bowe (Workington) 73 7 146 A Sutherland (Ladybank) 73 73. 147 A Dick (Kingsknowe) 71 76. 148 D Wilson (Troon Welbeck) 77 71, Neil Henderson(Glen) 77 71, D Key (Dunbar) 74 74, J McDonald (Kilmarnock Barassie) 73 75. 149 Fraser McKenna (Balmore) 76 73, Craig Ross (Kirkhill) 72 77, B Neil (Blairgowrie) 71 78. 150 G Robertson (Glenbervie) 81 69, C Sharvin (Stirling Univ) 75 75, A Dunton (McDonald Ellon) 75 75, G J Gordon (Newmachar) 73 77. 151 J Savage (Cawder) 77 74, S Binning (Ranfurly Castle) 76 75, Kevin Duncan (Cruden Bay)_ 73 78. 152 Paul Gault (Westerwood) 77 75, P Spraggs (Stowmarket) 77 75, Scott Borrowman (Dollar) 77 75, Anthony Blaney (Liberton) 75 77, Fraser Moore (Glenbervie) 71 81. 153 W Bremner (Edzell) 76 77, M Daily (Erskine) 77 76. 154 C Chalmers (Cawder) 81 73, B McLeod (Musselburgh) 79 75, B R Fotheringham (Forres) 77 77, S Maxwell (Windyhill)78 76, C R Watson (East Renfrewshire) 76 78, G Stevenson (Whitecraigs) 76 78. 155 C Lawton (Falkirk Trust) 73 82, R Noon (Craigielaw) 79 7 156 C A Baird (Bothwell Castle)77 79, A Culverwell (Dunbar) 83 73. 157 D Morrison (Duff House Royal) 82 75, M Clark (Kilmacolm) 80 77, J Duff (Newmachar) 75 82, D Watson (Peterhead) 76 81, S McEwan (Loudon Gowf) 75 82. All those with 157 and better qualified for Sunday's two rounds. MISSED THE CUT  James Hendrick  86 +  72 158 Glenn S Campbell  81 +  77 158 Steven Rennie  81 +  77 158 Stuart Graham  79 +  79 158 James Aitken  79 +  79 158 Louis Tomlinson  78 +  80 158 Keith Shanks  81 +  78 159 Kyle McClung  74 +  85 159 Ryan Walsh  80 +  80 160 David Oldham  78 +  82 160 Jake Hogg  81 +  80 161 Hugh Nelson  81 +  80 161 Alister Hain  79 +  82 161 Graham Robertson  75 +  86 161 Richard Docherty  80 +  82 162 Jeff Wright  79 +  83 162 Mark Cox  78 +  84 162 Alasdair McDougall  82 +  81 163 Neil MacAndrew  77 +  86 163 Lyle McAlpine  82 +  82 164 Connor Neil  84 +  82 166 Craig Howie  83 +  83 166 Joao Malagueira  81 +  87 168 Barry J Hume  75 +  NR NR Scott Brown  79 +  NR NR Ross  G  S Bell  79 +  NR NR Kenneth MacAskill  83 +  NR NR Darren Hulston  85 +  NR NR