MANASSERO ADVICE HELPS COMPATRIOT REACH LAST EIGHT

NEWS RELEASE FROM THE R and A

Royal Cinque Ports, KENT. Advice from the 2009 Amateur champion Matteo Manassero helped highly rated Italian countryman Renato Paratore to reach the quarter-finals of the 118th Amateur Championship at Royal Cinque Ports today.

Paratore turned to the BMW PGA champion and Silver Medal winner at the 2009 Open Championship for guidance on links golf before travelling to the Kent coast. It paid off for the 16-year-old who is the same age as Manassero when he won at Formby. Paratore won a close match against Iceland’s Haraldur Franklin Magnus at the 19th hole to follow his win over Poland’s Adrian Meronk in the previous round.

Speaking through an interpreter, the 16-year-old said, “I know Matteo from playing on the Italian team with him a few times. He has been a big help. He was good on telling me how to play links golf. He told me how to play in the wind and how to play punch shots. He knows how it works and how to make it happen because he won this tournament.”

Neil Raymond led a home charge with a comfortable 7 and 6 victory over Tim Gornik, from Slovenia, and was joined by fellow English players Garrick Porteous, Max Orrin and Nick Marsh in the last eight.
Raymond took charge from the off against 22-year-old Gornik and was four up after six holes. He turned the screw with three consecutive birdies from the ninth and closed out the match when both players carded bogey 5s on the 12th.
“I have a lot of confidence from last week and I feel happy with my game,” said St Andrews Trophy winner Raymond who defeated Scotland cap Adam Dunton from Ellon, Aberdeenshire earlier in the day. 
“I am just trying to give myself as many chances as I can out there because down the stretch you are not going to have many birdie opportunities. 
"Taking advantage of the first few and the middle few holes when you have got some wedge shots is quite crucial round here. I’m really happy with the way I played. It’s nice to not have to play the full round so I can get a bit more rest.”
Porteous, North-east of England-based winner of the Scottish amateur stroke play championship earlier this month at Southerness, followed Raymond into the quarter-finals with a 3 and 2 win over Ireland’s Aaron Kearney after previously seeing off his compatriot Paul Dunne. 
Porteous, a 23-year-old Bamburgh Castle GC member, said, “I’ve played really well all week.  The key is being strategic on this course and staying on the right side of the fairway. Around the greens you just can’t short side yourself.”
Royal Cinque Ports member Orrin maintained his good form ousting Australia’s Jordan Zunic 3 and 1 to follow an earlier 3 and 2 win against fellow Englishman Paul Kinnear to reach the quarter-finals. 
“I’m overjoyed. At the start of the week I knew I was playing well but I didn’t expect to come all this way or to keep playing so well and keep the game there. I’m just really looking forward to tomorrow now. 
"More and more people have turned up from my club to watch me and family and friends so it’s really nice. I do appreciate all the support.”

Rounding off the English representation in the last eight will be Huddersfield’s Marsh who edged out Callum Shinkwin, from Moor Park, by one hole.

Paul Barjon went one stage further in this year’s championship after being knocked out by the eventual winner Alan Dunbar at the corresponding stage last year. The 20-year-old Frenchman won a close match with Ashley Chesters, from Hawkstone Park, by two holes. Earlier in the day he defeated Edward Richardson, from Rye, at the 19th hole.

American Jim Liu was the scourge of the Danes as he followed his morning win over Mads Soegaard with a two-hole victory over Kasper Estrup.

The quarter-final line-up for The Amateur Championship will see  
Paratore v Liu, 
Raymond v Porteous
Barjon v Hakula
Orrin v Marsh. 
The matches will be played tomorrow morning starting at 8.15am followed by the semi-finals in the afternoon.

For scoring from the championship visit championships.randa.org. Television highlights will be broadcast on Sky Sports. Follow the championship on Twitter at @TheAmateurLive.

SCROLL DOWN TO READ MORE ABOUT THE THIRD-ROUND DEFEATS OF THE LAST TWO SCOTS IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP, ADAM DUNTON AND GRANT FORREST