The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Cream of the crop on top after qualifying rounds
Title contenders are back on form on second day at Rosemount
The cream rose to the top on the second day of qualifying for the Scottish Amateur Championship at Blairgowrie with all the favourites well placed inside the top 64 going on to today’s first matchplay round.
Duff House Royal’s Callum Bruce took medallist honours but title contenders such as Sandy Scott, Jamie Stewart, Euan McIntosh and Ben Ferguson all upped the ante after modest performances on the opening day, all moving into the top 10 qualifiers.
Bruce claimed the top seeding, the 19-year-old from Banff continuing what has been a breakthrough season with a six-under par 66 over Rosemount to add to a solid 71 on the Lansdowne on Tuesday for a seven-under aggregate of 137, a shot clear of the field.
Bruce has had an outstanding first season at Midland College in West Texas, a junior college well known to Scots amateur golfers in the past – Andrew Coltart is among the former students there.
Callum was named the Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year in the National Junior College Division, winning four events, having four runners-up positions – including the National Championships – and four other top 10 finishes.
Yesterday in more testing conditions than the first day he recorded seven birdies with a sole bogey at the long 11th.
His contemporary and fellow former Scottish Boys international Sandy Scott cruised into the second seeding slot with at five-under 67, the best round over the two days on the tougher Lansdowne course.
The 19-year-old from Nairn eagled the first and added four more birdies to finish on six-under for the 36 holes of qualifying.
Fellow Scotland men’s team member Euan McIntosh, now 49 and aiming at a second shot at the professional game in the Seniors Tour when he becomes eligible next year, claimed a share of third with a three-under 69 on Rosemount to add to his two-under 70 on Lansdowne on Tuesday.
Michael Brodie, the Alyth member who has completed three years at Lander University in South Carolina, led the Perth and Kinross contenders with a two-under 70 at Lansdowne to share third with McIntosh.
First round leader Eric McIntosh found Lansdowne a much tougher assignment after his course-record equalling 64 on Rosemount with a 76, but that was enough to keep him in the top 10 qualifiers for the matchplay stages.
Biggest charges through the field on the second day came from two of the favourites, internationalist Jamie Stewart and Ben Ferguson.
Stewart, from Old Course Ranfurly, was outside the cut line after 18 holes at Lansdowne but came racing back with a day’s best of 65 on Rosemount.
The 19-year-old, a student at the University of Missouri, did not have a bogey as he claimed a share of third place and moved 71 places up the field.
Ferguson, the 20-year-old based in Australia, moved up a mere 63 places on the day but his turnaround happened incredibly quickly at Rosemount.
At five-over and apparently heading out of the championship after eight holes of his second round, he rattled off four birdies in a row, an eagle two at the 13th, and two more birdies to pick up eight shots in the space of just seven holes.
That turned his round into a fiveunder 67 and a comfortable qualification just outside the top 10.