Adrenalin keeps tired Wattel at full throttle

DESPITE feeling the strain of more than a month of constant competition, France's Romain Wattel had enough energy in the tank to take charge of the Scottish Open Strokeplay championship at Glasgow Gailes yesterday.

The 19-year-old, the second highest world ranked player in the field at No.14, carded a neatly assembled four-under 67, highlighted by a chip-in from 35 yards at the fourth, for a seven-under 135 and a two-shot lead over Devon's Billy Hemstock.

Wattel, aiming to become only the second Frenchman after Francois Illouz in 1989 to win the Scottish title, has already demonstrated his strokeplay qualities this season by claiming his own national crown by six shots at the end of April.

"That was the start of a big run of tournaments for me and I'm feeling quite tired now," admitted Wattel, who has the St Andrews Links Trophy and the Amateur Championship at Muirfield coming up on a rigorous schedule in the next fortnight. "It has been a lot of golf in the past month, and there is a lot still coming, but the adrenalin keeps you going. It helps when you are playing well too."

England squad member Hemstock, third in last year's European Amateur Championship, kept himself in the hunt with a 70 for 137, while Ayrshireman Chris Harkins emerged as the leading home hopeful with a three-under 68, which hoisted him into a share of third on a three-under 139.

The 25-year-old, a graduate in medical science from Glasgow University, packed in five birdies but remained largely unmoved by his day's efforts.

"It was pretty boring stuff to be honest and there was not much to report," said Harkins, who recently returned to Scotland after a seven-month stint in Australia. "I was hitting it close for my birdies and my two bogeys came from three-putts. On the whole it was pretty steady."

Harkins was joined on the three- under mark by Nottingham's Richard Smith, Jack Senior of Heysham and overnight leader Chris Lloyd, who was left cursing a damaging inward half that dented his title ambitions. The Bristol youngster had moved into a commanding lead with a four-under front-nine but a triple-bogey seven at 11 was followed by consecutive bogeys at 14, 15 and 16 as he trudged in with a 73.

Peterhead's Philip McLean, the winner of the Edward Trophy at Glasgow Gailes last month, continued his steady progress with a 71 for 141 to cement his place in the top-ten. He finished alongside his north-east colleague, Bryan Innes of Murcar, and Korea's world amateur No.12, Jin Jeong, the winner of both the Riversdale Cup and the Tasmanian Open earlier in the year.