James Byrne relishes his return bout with Smyth

JAMES Byrne will get his wish at Gullane this morning, having spotted a chance for revenge the moment he noticed Michael Smyth's name in the same quarter of the draw for the Allied Surveyors Scottish Amateur Championship at Gullane.

Twleve months after losing to Smyth in the first round at Royal Troon, Byrne faces the same player again in the SGU's flagship event, this time in the quarter-finals, and the tournament favourite is determined to get his own back on the Ayrshireman.

"Losing to Michael last year was a sore one," said the Banchory player after holding off Kingsknowe's Allyn Dick to set up the clash. "I spotted his name in the draw as early as the second round and I was hoping to face him."

Byrne, bidding to go one better here than the Amateur Championship at neighbouring Muirfield in June, won the first with an eagle-2 - he hit a 3-wood to 20 feet as the wind swung round from where it was earlier in the week - and was three-under-par in beating Dick. The two-time Scottish Mid-Amateur champion made a fight of it, though, getting back to all square after being four down only to three-putt the 17th when he failed to get the big bounce he was hoping for with his second after seeing his tee shot finish in the first cut of rough.

"My form so far this week has been pretty similar to Muirfield, though I maybe putted a bit better there," said Byrne, a 21-year-old from Banchory. "However, with the exception of one player, all my opponents have played very well against me." Smyth, a 24-year-old from Royal Troon, claimed the scalp of Fifer Greg Paterson, one of the seeds, to book his place in the last eight, holing six-footers for halves at both the 16th and 17th before hitting an 8-iron to three feet for a match-winning birdie at the last.

"Does he know me?" asked Smyth when told he would be facing a rematch with Byrne, before adding: "I'm one up, so I've got nothing to lose." Asked what his best achievement was, he said, a tad mischievously perhaps: "The Prestwick Links maybe. No, it's beating Byrne!"

On the best day of the week so far on the East Lothian coast, Troon Welbeck's Michael Stewart maintained his sparkling form to sweep into the quarter-finals, where he meets Jordan McColl, a 19-year-old from Scotscraig who, by his own admission, has exceeded expectations to reach this stage. Stewart, the 2008 Scottish Boys' champion, is approximately 16-under-par for his last four rounds, the highlight of a 5 and 4 success over fellow Ayrshireman Jamie McKay yesterday afternoon being an eagle-2 at seventh, where he holed from a greenside bunker.

"I'm playing really well and, if the putter warms up, my scoring could be really scary," said Stewart, who is suffering from shingles and admitted he was off to sit down to a "massive dinner" to try and build his energy levels up again in time to face McColl, a Dundonian who admits his game has benefited from a combination of good practice facilities and decent weather in the first year of a scholarship at New Mexico junior college.

Byrne and Stewart are the only seeds still standing after Ross Kellett's morning exit to Paul Ferrier was followed later in the day by David Law, the defending champion, and Paterson also going out. Law lost 3 and 1 to Liam Johnston, a 17-year-old from Dumfries who is lying fourth on the SGU Junior Order of Merit.Johnston now faces Dunbar's Stephen Neilson, the middle of three golfing siblings. Enjoying his best run in the event, Neilson followed a morning win over Paul Shields by holding off a strong fightback from Ferrier, the 2007 Scottish Boys' champion. Ferrier holed from off the green for a birdie at the 17th and almost forced extra time with a 15-footer that burned the edge of the cup at the last. Jordan Findlay's caddie this week is his American girlfriend Tara, the pair having met when they were both at East Tennessee State University. Helped by her calming influence, Findlay, a 22-year-old former British Boys champion from Fraserburgh who is coached by Bob Torrance, scraped through a scrappy morning encounter before chalking up a big win over Craigielaw's Myles Cunningham.

"I've made a lot of swing changes with Bob and everything is starting to click," said Findlay, who missed out on the chance to play in the same event here in 2004 after his flight back from Austria, where he'd been competing in the European Young Masters, was delayed.

Next up for Findlay, who is hoping his form this week will earn a first full Scotland cap in next month's Home Internationals in Wales, is a match against John Duff, a 21-year-old Aberdeen University student who plays his golf at Newmachar.