Craig Ross starts season with a bang by edging out Scott to land Junior title

After an hour's delay due to flooding, Ross made a flying start with four birdies in his first five holes and was still four-under with four to play before dropping back-to-back shots at the sixth and seventh - his 15th and 16th after teeing off at the tenth. His two-under-par 69 was matched later in the day by Ewen Scott, the 2009 English Boys' Under-14s champion from St Andrews, but Ross claimed the title by virtue of a better inward half of 32, three less than Scott.

The pair finished two shots clear of Barassie's internationalist, Jack McDonald, in third place, with defending champion Simon Faiburn (75) and Scottish Boys' title holder Grant Forrest (76) among those who were futher down the leaderboard. "This is probably the biggest win of my career so far, though I topped my age category in a Faldo Series qualifier at The Roxburghe last year," said Ross, who is playing full-time golf at the moment after leaving Belmont House High School in Newton Mearns.

He receives coaching as part of the SGU Academy, working at the moment with George Boswell as Adam Hunter gradually builds things up again after his recovery from leukaemia. "I came here believing I had a chance and this will certainly give me a lot of confidence for the Scottish Boys' Championship," added Ross.

The girls' event was also decided on a card play-off, with Broomieknowe's Kate McIntosh pipping Rachel Watton of Mortonhall after the two Lothians players had signed for 74s, one better than Rachel Walker of Dumfries & County. Maintaining the form that earned her victory in the final SGU Winter Series event at Troon the previous weekend, McIntosh bagged four birdies and was relieved that a triple-bogey 7 at the seventh did not prove costly. For Watton, who made a winning debut for Scotland in last year's Women's Home Internationals, that proved the case with a bogey at the last in her swansong in junior golf.