Renfrewshire teenager Jamie Stewart is hoping to be more to the fore in this week’s Scottish Boys Championship – and finally get over the third round hurdle.
The Old Ranfurly youngster, who is the No 3 seed for this week’s under-18 showpiece at Murcar, opened his challenge with a 5&4 win over Carluke’s Graeme Greer.
Stewart, a plus-two handicapper, has never been beyond the third round in two previous appearances but the 16-year-old has set his sights on a prolonged stay in the north east this week.
He said: “My record in this event is not great and I want to go as far as I can. I’ve not actually looked at the draw to see who I would get as I just want to focus on a game-to-game basis.”
Stewart, who won both the Scottish Boys under-16 title and the Scottish Junior Champion of Champions last season, faced a stern opponent in Greer who is a six-time junior champ at Carluke.
But Stewart showed his matchplay qualities to ease to a convincing victory and set up a second round tie with Ellis Gray of Duff House Royal.
He added: “Graeme is a good player, a scratch golfer, so I had to play well and my putting was good. It wasn’t a great ball striking day but I got the job done.”
Biggest win of the event so far came from East Renfrewshire’s Tom MacKenzie, who doled out a 9&8 second round thumping to Michael Walker as he set up a third round tie with Michael Lawrie, the teenage son of former Open champion Paul.
And Haggs Castle’s Glen Burrett continued his impressive run as he beat Uphall’s Craig Tibbets 2&1 to book a date with the No 1 seed, Sandy Scott.
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