Chris Robb set for call-up after Amateur triumph

Chris Robb with the Scottish Amateur Championship trophy. Picture: Kenny Smith

Robb, who beat Glenbervie’s Graeme Robertson 4&3 in Saturday’s Fairstone-sponsored event final at Downfield, refused to count his chickens as far as a first senior cap was concerned.

However, the 23-year-old Meldrum House man is a certainty for the four-cornered event in Wales after moving up to second behind Blairgowrie’s Bradley Neil in the SGU Order of Merit.

Neither Neil, the Amateur champion, nor Craigielaw’s Grant Forrest, this year’s St Andrews Links Trophy winner, is available for the Home Internationals as they’re playing in the US Amateur Championship in Atlanta at the same time.

It means the Scots are being deprived of their two top-ranked players, but the team heading for the Principality should still contain three others inside the world’s top 100 – Jamie Savage (63rd), Jack McDonald (67th) and James Ross (92nd).

The side is also likely to include Adam Dunton and Scott Gibson through their performances so far this season in counting events while others in contention through that part of the selection process are Greig Marchbank, Matthew Clark and Daniel Young.

As for Robertson, the gallant runner-up in the SGU’s flagship event in Dundee, the ball could be in his court as he has cut back his schedule a bit this season and could decide to give the event a miss this time.

Barry Hume’s brave run in reaching the last eight at the age of 32 might well have given the selectors food for thought, but he would more likely be in the frame in a year’s time if he can use last week as a springboard.

Robb’s success in the City of Discovery was his third in three events, having previously won the East of Scotland Open at Lundin and the Cameron Corbett Vase at Haggs Castle in a month-long purple patch.

He’ll now bid to make it three in a row when he takes his place in a strong field for the European Individual Amateur Championship starting at The Duke’s near St Andrews on Wednesday.