Great Scott! Nairn's Sandy among eight Scots


qualifiers for The Amateur  match-play


By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Nairn's Sandy Scott is among the eight Scots who have qualified for the match-play stages of The Amateur championship, the qualifying rounds having been played at Royal St George's (par 70) and Princes (par 72).

Scott (pictured), who has just completed his first year at Texas Tech,  had rounds of 69 and 68 for 137 to be tied 11th with fellow Scot Craig Howie (Peebles) 68-69.

Leading Scot was Chris Maclean (Balmore) with a pair of 68s for 136 and joint sixth place behind Caolan Rafferty from Dundalk, who came in late in the day with a brilliant 10-under-par round of 62 at Princes to claim top seed status with an aggregate of 132. 

Other Scots to make it through to the match-play stages were Euan Walker (Kilmarnock Barassie) (73-66) and Craig Ross (Kirkhill) (67-72) on 139, Ryan Lumsden (Royal Wimbleton) (70-70) on 140  and left hander Robert MacIntyre (Glencruitten) (72-69) and Connor Syme (Drumoig) (70-71) on 141.
Non-qualifying Scots included Jeff Wright (Forres) who scored 68 and 75 for 143 - two shots too many, Moray's Kyle Godsman (72-73) on 145, and Rory Franssen (Inverness) (73-75) for 148.




THE AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
QUALIFYING ROUNDS
Par 142 (70 at Royal St George's; 72 at Princes)
132 C Rafferty (Dundalk) 70 62
133 A Castagnara (Ita) 65 68
134 H Ellis (Meon Valley) 69 65.
135 H Endycott (Australia) 70 65,
136 O Gillberg (Swe), Z Murray (Australia) 66 70, L Cianchetti (Ita) 68 68, C Maclean (Sco) 68 68.


OTHER SCOTS WHO QUALIFIED FOR MATCH-PLAY
137 S Scott (Nairn) 69 68, C Howie (Peebles) 68 69 (T12)
139 E Walker (Kilmarnock Barassie) 73 66, C Ross (Kirkhill)( 67 72 (T22).
140 R Lumsden (Royal Wimbledon) 70 70 (T36).
141 R MacIntyre (Glencruitten) 72 69, C Syme (Drumoig) 70 71 (T51).




MISSED THE CUT (141 and better qualified)
142 J Stewart (Old Ranfurly) 72 70
143 J Wright (Forres) 68 75, G Burns (Williamwood) 70 7
145 K Godsman (Moray) 72 73
146 C Hill (Tantallon) 72 74, A McDougall (Elderslie) 72 7
148 L Johnston (Dumfries and Co) 73 75, R Franssen (Inverness) 73 75.


154 B Hume (Haggs Castle) 77 77
155 C Watson (East Renfrewshire) 81 74.






TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES


CLICK HERE

 

TO VIEW THE MATCH-PLAY DRAW CLICK HERE

RAFFERTY LEADS QUALIFIERS FOR
MATCH-PLAY STAGE

R AND A NEWS RELEASE

Sandwich, Kent: Caolan Rafferty led the way after the second stroke play qualifying round in The 122nd Amateur Championship at Royal St George’s and Prince’s today.

The 25-year-old Irishman carded a ten-under-par 62 to match the lowest round score in Amateur Championship qualifying history set by Kevin McAlpine on the Old Course at St Andrews in 2004.  

Rafferty also broke the course record of 64 at Prince’s set yesterday by Gisli Sveinbergsson.

Rafferty, who finished tied seventh at the Lytham Trophy, eagled the par five 2nd hole and reached the turn in six-under-par before going on a run of five birdies in six holes from the 10th. A bogey at the last, after finding a bunker, left the Dundalk golfer on ten-under-par.

Rafferty finished a shot clear of Italy’s Alberto Castagnara. The 20-year-old Italian carded a two-under-par round of 68 to finish on nine-under-par and secure his place in the match play stage which gets underway at the renowned Sandwich links tomorrow.

Castagnara, who was on the reserve list for the championship and secured his place following a withdrawal, got off to a good start in calm conditions on the Kent coast with a birdie at the 2nd. He picked up three further shots, including a birdie three on the 17th, with bogeys on the 4th and 15th holes the only blemishes on his card.

After finishing his round, Castagnara went back out to caddie for his brother Guilio, who missed the cut on nine-over-par.

One shot further back was English international Harry Ellis. The 21-year-old former English Amateur Champion produced seven birdies, including three in his last four holes, on his way to a five-under-par 65 at the same venue.

Harrison Endycott, who was part of the winning Australian team in last year’s Eisenhower Trophy at the World Amateur Team Championships in Mexico, carded three birdies on the back nine on his way to a 65 at Royal St George’s and a seven-under-par total which was later matched by Welshman Evan Griffith.

Endycott’s countryman Zach Murray was among a clutch of players who finished on six-under-par including the current European Amateur Champion Luca Cianchetti and his fellow Italian Stefano Mazzoli, who won the title in 2015. Scotland’s Chris Maclean and Swede Oliver Gillberg, were on the same mark.

The cut for the championship fell on one-under-par with 77 players qualifying, 24 of them on the 141 mark.

Key quotes

Caolan Rafferty

“The wind was up today but everyone knows back home that I love the wind and playing links golf in the wind suits me right down to the ground. It might be a bit of a graft when it comes to getting a score out of it but today I just kept hitting it to ten to 12 feet and I couldn’t miss it.

“It is nice to know that I am the leading qualifier in this field. The players are the best of the best. They are the closest thing to professionals that we are going to see. To come out on top is always nice.

“Match play is a funny game. You can play really poorly and win a match or you can play really well and lose a match. You just have to take it one step at a time in match play and not get down about it. I enjoy match play so I’m looking forward to it.”

Alberto Castagnara

“I couldn’t believe that I played that well. I think today I played also even better than yesterday. I just missed a lot of putts but still I made two-under so yeah that’s incredible.

“I will just rest (tonight) and we will see tomorrow but still it’s unbelievable to be here."

Harry Ellis

“That was one of my goals for going round today - trying to get close to the lead. I know it’s only qualifying but I like to compete and win the stroke play elements in this as well.

“I’ve been down to Royal St George’s many a time and I’ve never played that good round here. That gives me a lot of confidence going into the match play element.”

Harrison Endycott

“It’s always a huge positive to qualify high on the leaderboard. It gives you a bit of confidence going into the match play where anything can happen.

“I’m expecting tough matches from minute one but I’m looking forward to getting out there and competing.

“As an amateur it would be unbelievable to play in The Open, to walk the fairways with the game’s greatest players. I’m going to be doing everything I can this week to get there.”

Chris Maclean

“It’s match play and anyone can beat anyone. If you’ve made the cut you are good enough to beat anyone else that has made the cut. The field is really strong – it’s one of the best fields I will play in all year.

“That’s the dream. The Open for me is just the absolute test of golf. The Open is the one I would love to play in. Especially at Royal Birkdale – that would be unbelievable.”

Luca Cianchetti

“I am feeling good. I played well yesterday and today scored four under which is good here. I tried to play solid golf and I did it – and now the focus is on the match play.

“I am looking forward to the match play and hope to play the same as the last two days and maybe hit some more pure putts.”

The reward for the winner of The Amateur Championship is a place in The 146^th Open at Royal Birkdale in July and the 2018 US Open at Shinnecock Hills. Traditionally, the Amateur Champion is also invited to compete in the Masters Tournament.

The match play stage gets underway at Royal St George’s tomorrow. Each match will consist of one round of 18 holes except the Final which will be over 36 holes.