Bright young things in Auld Grey Toon

SOMETHING is stirring in St Andrews. For all that the Fife town is famous for the champions who've won there, it has failed, certainly in modern times, to produce a champion of its own, the last notable success in the male amateur ranks, for example, having been in 1993, when James Bunch claimed the Scottish Boys' Stroke Play title.

Yet, just 24 hours after the New Club's Greg Paterson recorded a fine victory in the Craigmillar Park Open, there was evidence at Dunbar yesterday to suggest the Auld Grey Toon could also be in with a strong chance of providing a first Scottish Boys' champion since Lachlan Carver lifted the title at North Berwick, a few miles along the coast, in 1960.

Ewan Scott, a 15-year-old St Andrews Club player, justified his seeding with a 5 and 4 win over Falkirk Tryst's Glenn Fotheringham and, later, he was joined among the opening-day winners on a testing day by clubmate Ben Kinsley, as well as Alasdair McDougall, of St Andrews New. Today, when Paul Lawrie's 15-year-old son Craig also enters the fray, Josh Jamieson, another New Club youngster, steps on to the tee for his first match and he, too, has some form, having already tasted victory in one of the SGU Junior Tour events last year.

Scott's biggest success to date was becoming the first Scottish player to win the English Under-14s Championship two years ago. He picked up four points out of five in the Boys' Home Internationals last year, when he also spent some time chilling out with Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, both now major winners, during the Open Championship in his home town.

"They were renting a flat next door to my house and I spoke to them a couple of times over the wall when they were having a barbecue," said Scott.

A product of the St Andrews Links Junior Golf Association, Scott is hoping it won't be long before the town boasts a player of its own who can challenge for majors. "Krystle Caithness is doing pretty well on the Ladies' European Tour, but we definitely need someone to do something in the men's game," he added. There was one casualty among the St Andrews contingent yesterday as Neil Beattie, making his fifth appearance in the event, fell to Bradley Neil of Blairgowrie. Neil succeeded Scott as the English Under-14s champion and has lifted the Scottish title for that age group for the last two years. Defending champion Grant Forrest described his opening win as a "relief" after being down early on against Dunfermline's Jordan Lamb, a situation Daniel Hendry, an Aberdeen-born 17-year-old who has lived in Dubai for the last eight years, also found himself in before bagging back-to-back eagles at the eighth and ninth to get his nose in front en route to a 2 and 1 success over Swanston New's Ross Fergus.The Emirates Club member almost drove the 370-yard eighth before holing a 50-footer then rolled one in from 15 feet for a 3 at the long ninth.