Round Up: Two Scots still standing in Amateur Championship

Euan Walker and Sandy Scott are the sole Scots still standing in the 124th Amateur Championship after they both dug deep to win last-64 matches at Portmarnock.

Sam Locke shot a nine-under-par 63 to share the lead after the first round in a PGA EuroPro Tour event at Cumberwell Park. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Walker, the African Amateur champion from Kilmarnock (Barassie), beat Waterford’s Eanna Griffin by two holes while Nairn man Scott won the last to edge past Norway’s Markus Braadlie.

Italian Riccardo Leo, who beat Scottish champion Euan McIntosh 4&3, is next up for Walker while Scott takes on Englishman Daniel O’Loughlin in the first of two rounds on Thursday.

Australian-based Connor McKinney, the fourth Scot to qualify for the knock-out stage, joined McIntosh in making an early exit as he lost at the 19th in another close encounter to Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg.

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Two-time European Tour winner Alastair Forsyth is threating to run away with the PGA Professional Championship after backing up his opening 65 with a sensational 63 at Hunstanton in Norfolk.

Forsyth, who is attached to Mearns Castle Golf Academy, was out in two-under in his second round before storming home in 28 for a 16-under-par total.

The recently-crowned Northern Open champion leads by seven shots from compatriot and 2017 winner Paul O’Hara (North Lanarkshire Leisure), as well as England’s James Freeman.

“I guess it’s up there with the best of them,” said Forsyth of his day’s work in the battle for a £10,000 winner’s cheque. “I’m playing as well as I can play and all parts of my game came together.”

Downfield’s Christopher McMaster sits fourth on eight-under, a shot ahead of both Greig Hutcheon (Toprhins) and Graham Fox (Clydeway Golf), while Craig Lee is on six-under after a 65 that saw him come home in 29.

“It’s good to see my fellow countrymen doing well,” added Forsyth, who qualified as a PGA Professional in 2015.

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Scottish duo Sam Locke and Lawrence Allan shot matching nine-under-par 63s to share the lead with Luke Joy after the first round of the PGA EuroPro Tour’s Diamond X Open at Cumberwell Park.

Locke, the Silver Medal winner in last year’s Open Championship at Carnoustie, carded ten birdies in his blistering opening effort while Alva’s Allan had a bogey-free round that included two eagles.

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Downfield’s Graham Bell, the 2017 winner, leads the Scottish Seniors Open by two shots after firing a three-under-par 67 in the opening circuit at Luffness New.

Bell raced to the turn in four-under at the East Lothian venue before carding three bodeys and two birdies in a mixed back nine.

His closest challengers after day one are Duddingston’s Mike Armstrong and Stephen Govenlock of Tantallon.

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