Bell fends off late Fleetwood surge to claim Leven success

ROSS Bell, an uncapped 21-year-old from Downfield, withstood a strong final-round challenge from Tommy Fleetwood, the sole Englishman in the field, to win the Scottish Champion of Champions at Leven Links yesterday.

On a course that was in remarkably good condition given that it was covered in a blanket of snow earlier in the year, Bell closed with rounds of 67 and 70 for a nine-under-par total of 275 and a one-shot win over Fleetwood, a 19-year-old from Southport who played in the Walker Cup last year.

"This is the biggest achievement of my career so far," admitted Bell after taking up where he'd left off at the end of last season, when he finished runner-up to Kevin McAlpine, the former double Scottish champion, in the North of Scotland Open at Moray. Helped by an inward nine of 34, three-under, in the morning, Bell had a two-shot cushion going into the final round, the chasing pack being led by Pumpherston's Paul Drake, with Fleetwood and Peterhead's Philip McLean two strokes further back.

As Drake dropped four shots in the opening six holes, Bell had doubled his advantage by the turn but, in an incredible turnaround, he then found himself trailing Fleetwood by a shot with four holes to go. The young Englishman, bidding to win on the same course where Lee Westwood claimed the Leven Gold Medal in 1993, went birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie from the tenth only for a three-putt bogey at the par-3 15th to prove costly in the end.

Bell, who had started to feel the heat being turned up after driving into a gorse bush at the tenth and dropping a shot there, began to settle down again thanks to birdies at the 12th and 14th before getting his nose back in front with a birdie-3 at the 16th, where he holed from 12 feet.

While many a player has come a cropper in the burn that guards the 18th on the Fife course, the plus-three man from Angus just cleared it with a 9-iron second shot and got safely down in two putts before watching on anxiously a few minutes later as Fleetwood missed with a 15-foot birdie attempt to force a play-off.

"I had a couple of silly holes around the turn but finished strongly," said Bell after consigning Fleetwood to a fourth runners-up finish in succession, having also been pipped for the top prize in two events in Spain and one in Australia over the winter. McLean, the runner-up 12 months ago before winning the Gold Medal later in the year, finished third on 280 after having the wind taken out of his sails by a double-bogey 6 at the 18th in the third round.