Cambuslang golfer Lewis Irvine powered into the final of the Scottish Boys Championship at Murcar – and teed-up the chance to make it third time lucky for the Kirkhill club.

The 16-year-old edged out John Paterson by two holes to set up a final shoot-out with Edinburgh’s Eric McIntosh.

Irvine’s Kirkhill clubmate, Paul Shields, suffered back-to-back defeats in the final of the national under-18s showpiece in 2008 and 2009.

But Irvine now has chance to make up for those setbacks and add the Scottish Boys trophy to the South African Amateur crown his Kirky colleague Craig Ross won earlier this season.

The last time a Lanarkshire golfer won the title was in 1998 when Steven O’Hara triumphed over the same Murcar venue.

Irvine said: “I’ve surprised myself my getting this far because I was away with the Scotland under-16s last week and I thought I’d be dead on my feet by now. But I feel strangely fresh.”

In a nip-and-tuck tussle with Paterson, Irvine got himself back on level terms by driving the 11th green and making an eagle-two before inching ahead on the 13th when his rival stumbled to a double-bogey. A raking putt of some 30 feet to halve the 15th kept Paterson at bay. “That putt was a key moment,” admitted Irvine, who was one-up playing the 18th but was handed the hole when Paterson made a hash of his attempts to square the tie.

The hopes of an all-Lanarkshire showdown were ended in the other semi-final when Bellshill’s Dylan Burt lost 2&1 to McIntosh.