Top seed Bruce leads way to 2nd round of Scottish Am matches

PERTH, Scotland (Aug. 2, 2018) – After an action-packed first day of match-play golf at the Scottish Men’s Amateur Championship, top seed Callum Bruce will play Kilmacolm’s Matthew Clark in a mouth-watering clash in the opening match of tomorrow’s third round.

Clark, comfortably defeated Hayston’s James Paterson this morning, 5 and 4, then after a scrappy opening nine holes in his last-32 tie against Lundin’s Greg Wishart, hit a red-hot streak of form and was 8-under par for his final nine holes. “To only win 2-up is a testament to Greg who played great, he didn’t deserve to lose,” Clark said after his victory. “However on the Rosemount Course, once you get through six holes you have birdie and eagle opportunities in regular occurrence and if you get the putter hot, which I thankfully did today on the back nine, you can score well.” Clark got the quarterfinals a year ago, where he narrowly lost, and this year feels due for a good run in the event. “As an older amateur, it means an awful lot to still be competing with the younger lads and it’s a championship I treasure,” he said. “It’s a golf course that suits me, it’s a golf course I know I can score well around, so I’m looking forward to it.” Elsewhere there were comfortable early second-round wins for Calum Scott, who defeated Lewis Bryce-Maynard, 5 and 4. Stephen Roger triumphed, 6 and 5, over Steven Stewart. Rodger will face off against Calum’s elder brother, Sandy Scott, in tomorrow’s third round after Sandy defeated Ben Canton, 3 and 2, in the final match of the day. “The week has been great so far,” said Sandy Scott, 20, who attends college in the U.S. at Texas Tech.” I played some good stuff this morning, it was a little bit of a slow start this afternoon then it picked up. Overall I am pretty happy with my game and looking forward to tomorrow. “At the beginning of the week, the Rosemount Course didn’t really suit my eye. I preferred the Lansdowne but after playing it a few times it’s definitely growing on me. I think they are both great courses here at Blairgowrie and in great shape. The top-ranked amateur in this week’s field, Euan Walker, edged out first-round leader Eric McIntosh in a closely fought match Thursday afternoon, winning 1-up, and will face Robbie Morrison in tomorrow’s third round.