9am Round-Up: Jack Doherty leads at The Roxburghe

Jack Doherty moved to the top of the leaderboard at the halfway stage as two other Scots, Liam Johnston and Ewen Ferguson, also jumped into contention in the European Tour Qualifying School first stage event at The Roxburghe, near Kelso.

Doherty, who has been forced to enter the card scramble this year at the start of the golfing marathon due to fact he’s sitting 141st in the Challenge Tour’s Road to Oman, carded a second successive 68 at the Borders venue.

An effort that contained an eagle and five birdies left him sitting on eight-under-par, one ahead of England’s Chris Lloyd (68-69) with Thailand’s Natipong Srithong (69-69) a shot further back in third.

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Johnston, who has entered has an amateur, is next on the leaderboard, just three off the pace, after the Dumfries & County player backed up his opening 70 with an equally solid 69.

Having gone one better with his second-round effort, Ferguson, who recently joined the paid ranks and is making a first attempt to win a place on the European Tour, leapt up nearly 40 spots to sit joint-seventh on three-under.

Five other Scottish hopefuls - John Henry, Jack McDonald, Paul Ferrier, Jonathon Mullaney and Thomas Higson - are in in top 20, all sitting on one-under.

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Two-time European Tour winner Alastair Forsyth saw his title bid thwarted in the Carnegie Invitational thwarted by a strong finish from Greig Hutcheon at Skibo Castle.

Hutcheon, who won the Northern Open at nearby Royal Dornoch earlier in the year, carded a second-round 68 for a five-under-par 137 total, winning by three shots from overnight leader Forsyth, Graham Fox and Stephen Gray.

It was Hutcheon’s third win in the event, which is one of the most popular of the season among the Tartan Tour pros.

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Scotland got off to a disappointing start in the 27th Women’s World Amateur Team Championship in Mexico.

They ended the opening round at Mayakoba El Camaleon Golf Club sitting 19 shots behind Switzerland, the early pacesetters in the battle for the Espirito Santo Trophy.

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Jessica Meek fared best of the Scottish trio with a four-over 76, with Rachael Taylor’s 80 being the other counting score as an 81 carded by Connie Jaffrey was discounted.

It left the Scots sitting in a tie for 35th on a day when Ireland nestled into a share for seventh on two-over, one ahead of England in joint-11th.

Sisters Morgane and Kim Metraux shot 68 and 69 respectively to give Switzerland a one-stroke lead over Korea.

The score of 137 tied for the third-lowest first-round score in the event’s history.

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