Kieran Cantley wins Craigmillar Park Open after leader Stewart slumps to a 75 in final round

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Liberton's Kieran Cantley made it two wins out of two as far as the first two big 72-hole open tournaments of the season are concerned when he followed up his Scottish Champion of Champions win at Leven last weekend with victory in the Craigmillar Park Open at the Edinburgh venue today.
Cantley was in second place behind long time leader Steven Stewart until the Clydebank and District Golf Club member "blew up" in the final round, taking 75 blows (five over par) for a total of eight-under 272. His earlier scores had been 65, 62 and 70 with a great 54 hole run of one eagle and 18 birdies giving him a two-stroke lead with one round to play.
But Stewart, after a birdie at the second, bogeyed the fourth and fifth, double bogeyed the sixth and had further bogeys at the seventh, 11th, 12th and 13th.
Late birdies at the 16th and 17th were too late to stop Cantley from accepting the gift of victory on a plate.
Despite a "ropey" start to his final 18 holes - bogeys at the first, fourth and sixth -
Cantley broke 70 in every round - 65, 65, 69 and 68 for a 13-under-par total and a two-shot win from runner-up Stephen Roger (Peebles).
Roger birdied the 12th, 13th, 16th and 18th with a run that gave him a 67 and second place on 269.
In the final analysis it was Cantley's eagle 3 at the 14th which averted a play-off with the fast finishing Roger.
Euan McIntosh (Turnhouse) achieved another top-three finish after doing well at Leven. He birdied the 16th and 17th to snatch third place behind Cantley and Roger.
Stewart, who finished second in last year's Craigmillar Park Open, subsided into a joint fourth finish alongside Rory Smith (Dalmahoy) on 272.

+Liberton Golf Club is only four miles from the centre of Edinburgh, a bit like Craigmillar Park Golf Club's location.

CRAIGMILLAR PARK OPEN
Craigmillar Park Golf Club, Edinburgh
FINAL TOTALS
par 280 (4x70) SSS 68. CSS 70 71 71 (r/o) 70
267 K Cantley (Liberton) 65 65 68 68
269 S Roger (Peebles) 67 66 69 67
270 E McIntosh (Turnhouse) 66 67 69 68
272 R J Smith (Dalmahoy) 69 69 67 67, S Stewart (Clydebank and Dist) 65 62 70 75
273 A Minnikin (Alnmouth) 69 70 68 66
275 A Davidson (Charleton) 69 70 67 69
277 M Clark (Kilmacolm) 71 71 66 69, J Wilson (Balmore) 66 72 69 70, S Locke (Stonehaven) 66 69 73 69
278 J White (Lundin) 66 74 70 68, M Wilson (Kingsfield) 68 68 74 68, J Paterson (St Andrews New) 65 71 72 70, J Johnston (Ayr Belleisle) 66 70 72 70
279 D Howie (Peebles) 70 71 67 71
282 M Wharton (City of Newcastle) 70 71 71 70, D Dougan (Drumpellier) 71 70 71 70, N Peoples (Royal Lytham) 71 70 70 71.
284 S Hedger (West Kilbride) 70 72 72 70
285 F Milne (Banchory) 72 74 69 70, B Henderson (Deeside) 66 74 74 71
286 A Bendall (Castle Douglas) 73 71 74 68, J Shaw (Boat of Garten) 68 76 72 70
287 K Hamilton (Ayr Belleisle) 68 71 75 73, C Clarkin (Nelson) 68 70 78 71
288 G Booth (Formby Hall) 75 71 70 72, M Pennycott (Royal Burgess) 69 76 70 73
290 S McGarvey (Broomieknowe) 76 70 74 70, M Schinkel (Royal Dornoch) 70 73 75 72, A L Fernie (Thornton) 68 75 74 73, G Dalziel (Airdrie) 66 73 74 77
291 J Morris (Glencorse) 70 76 73 72
292 B McGowan (Thornton) 71 74 73 74
293 A Ferguson (Renfrew) 73 73 79 68, C R Watson (East Renfrewshire) 71 75 76 71
294 S McCandless (Bathgate) 70 76 75 73, G Brown (Cathkin Braes) 61 62 63 67
296 C Wilson (Castle Park) 72 67 81 76
297 F Kane (Kirkhill) 75 69 81 72
Retired: A Dick (Kingsfield) 70 69 73 ret.

MISSED CUT (146 and better qualified) INCLUDED
148 C D Scott (Nairn) 75 73
151 C Leith (Royal Aberdeen) 78 73
153 A Smith (Edzell) 76 77
154 J McKenna (Downfield) 75 79
NR H George (Downfield)

CLICK HERE to view all the scores

picture caption: Kieran Cantley receives the Craigmillar Park Open trophy from club aptain John Hall.