Rook takes top seed at English Am, Bairstow No. 2

LANCASHIRE, England (Aug. 1, 2018) – There’s a Yorkshire one-two at the head of the leaderboard for stroke-play qualifying at the English Amateur Championship, with Sam Rook edging Sam Bairstow to become top seed.

Rook and Bairstow both played the 36 holes of stroke play at Formby and Hesketh Golf Clubs in 5 under. However, Rook took the honors with his better second round of 3-under 69 while Bairstow was 2 under, both at Formby.

Breathing down their necks is a group of impressive layers who shot 4 under: David Langley, another Yorkshireman Nick Poppleton, Andrew Wilson and Matty Lamb.

Tomorrow Rook takes on Dan O’Loughlin in the first round of match play, but Bairstow has to wait to discover his opponent.

The top 64 players and ties qualified for the match-play stages – and with a total of 73 players going through, that means a preliminary round involving 18 players.

George Crow missed out on a place in the knock out but had the satisfaction of a hole in one on the 16th at Formby.