Crail member Burns, past champ MacAuley still in Scottish Am
The Scottish Amateur trophy (Crail Golf/Twitter photo)
Only 16 men remain in contention for the Scottish Amateur as the field was cut Thursday from 64. The match-play stages have begun at the Craighead Course at Crail Golfing Society and now it’s a fight to the finish.
Lachlan Reynolds will live to see another match after knocking out the top seed from stroke-play qualifying, Stuart McLaren. Earlier in the day, Reynolds had progressed to the Round of 32 with a 1-up victory over Rob MacGregor.
Crail member George Burns is also safely through to the “sweet 16” after two impressive victories: a 6-and-5 defeat of Gary Wright in the morning and then a stunning 7-and-6 win in the afternoon against Dan Lawrence.
Speaking to Scottish Golf after his second-round victory, Burns said, “Playing at my home course has been fun, I know the course well and I had some success here earlier in the year when I played the battle trophy and I think both of those factors have allowed me to be confident with my lines off the tee.
“I haven’t felt too much extra pressure to be honest, I am just planning on sticking to my game and seeing what happens one round at a time.”
One of the biggest winners of the afternoon was Australia’s Joshua Greer, who cruised to a 6-and-5 victory against Gullane’s Thomas Simmonds after beating Liam Duncan, 2 and 1, in the morning.
“I played two really tough games today but managed to come through – I wasn’t playing particularly well in the stroke-play competition earlier in the week but was able to go away and work a few things out which helped,” Gree told Scottish Golf. “I have lived in Australia for the last eight years but always tend to come back home at this time of year to compete in a few competitions both in the UK and in the US. It has been nice to be back home and being able to play in nice weather up at Crail, it is not always as fun when the weather is poor.”
Kilmacolm’s Matt Clark, who started the day a 5-and-3 victory in the morning against Longniddry’s David Rudd (who had earlier in the week shot a course-record 60 on the Balcomie course) also has a tee time on Friday., He defeated Carnoustie’s Will Porter in the afternoon, 3 and 2.
Defending champion Euan McIntosh’s went down early in the day. He was beaten on the last hole of his match against John Paterson of New Club St Andrews. Paterson is still in the hunt to win the title himself after winning his afternoon match again Craig Pirie, 4 and 3.
One former winner who is still in with a chance of picking up a second title is Calum MacAulay. The 2008 champion put in a solid performance on Thursday with a narrow win down the last in the morning, followed by a more comfortable 4-and-3 victory in the afternoon.
ABOUT THE Scottish Amateur
The Scottish Amateur Championship began in
1922 and has witnessed many famous victors,
including legendary amateurs Ronnnie Shade
and Charlie Green as well as some of the stars
of the modern game, Colin Montgomerie and
Stephen Gallacher.
Entry to the Championship is open to any male
golfer who was either born in Scotland, has
Scottish parentage, permanent residency in
Scotland for not less than 5 years and has not
played international golf or competed in a
closed Championship for any other country
other than Scotland. The starting field shall be
256 and, in the event of an over-entry, the
number shall be reduced in order of exact
handicap. Each match shall consist of one
round of 18 holes except the final which will be
played over 36 holes.
View Complete Tournament Information