Lothians bid is pinned on Neilson at Gullane

The 22-year-old from Dunbar was left to fly the Lothians flag on his own at Gullane after Kingsknowe's Allyn Dick, Myles Cunningham of Craigielaw and, of course, Ferrier all went out in the fifth round.

Neilson looked to be cruising into the quarter-finals when he held a four-hole lead over Ferrier, the 2007 Scottish Boys' champion, with seven holes to play. But the Baberton player was sparked into life by an eagle-3 at the 12th, where he hit a great second shot to eight feet and holed the putt.

A par proved good enough to take the 14th as well before Ferrier piled on the pressure by holing from off the green at the 17th to take the tie up the last.

And he almost forced it up the 19th, Neilson admitting he didn't know his opponent's 15ft birdie putt had stayed out on the home green.

"I'm delighted to be in the last eight," said the winner, the middle of three golfing brothers.

"I'd say I was a middle of the pack player in SGU Order of Merit events but I prefer to play in big tournaments like this."

At the previous big men's tournament in East Lothian, the Amateur Championship at Muirfield, Neilson was on car parking duties.

"I do some caddying at Muirfield and was offered a bag in the Amateur but didn't take it as that would have been hard to accept," he said. "So I did some car park duty instead."

Younger brother Jamie - Craig is the oldest of the trio - is caddying for Neilson and has also let him borrow a putter that's working well. "The putter has been great while Jamie has also been a big help when it comes to reading the greens," said Neilson, who was relieved of the task of having to avoid defending champion David Law in the last eight after he lost to Dumfries teenager Liam Johnston.

Dick, the Lothians champion, gave a great account of himself as he bowed out to James Byrne, the tournament favourite, by one hole. Four down at one point, Dick was back on level terms with two holes to play, helped by birdies at the 13th, where he hit a 5-iron to a foot and the 15th.

However, his tee shot at the 17th bounced into the first cut of rough and, worried about getting flyer, he couldn't commit fully to his second.

"I was hoping it would get a big jump but it didn't," he said of an eventual bogey caused by a three-putt.

The last was halved in pars to send Byrne through but Dick, who was being watched by Scotland captain Scott Knowles and fellow selector Wilson Bryson, is hoping he's done enough this week to earn a call up for next month's Home Internationals in Wales.

"I'd like to think I was in contention and hopefully my performances this week haven't done me any harm," observed Dick, who had wasted little time in booking his place in the last 16 earlier in the day, bagging an eagle at the 12th and four birdies in crushing Dunblane New's David Shields 7 and 5.

"I hit a couple of poor shots but in general struck it brilliantly again," said Dick. "I hit it inside him at the first, second, third and fourth and that put the pressure on him right away."

Cunningham's run ended on a disappointing note as he lost heavily to Jordan Findlay, the former British Boys' champion from Fraserburgh. But, like Dick, the Craigielaw player gave an excellent account of himself in East Lothian and will hopefully build on this performance to have a strong finish to the season, the same going for Ferrier, who also showed some promising form.

Cunningham, clearly a talented player who thankfully has regained his love for the game, had progressed earlier in the day with a 4 and 3 win over Lanark's Michael Gray. The Lothians man putted well in that one, the pick of the ones he holed being a 50-footer for a birdie at the 11th. Cameron Marr, who lost by 2 and 1 to Byrne in the morning, is hoping to take the positives he gained from a promising debut in the event into next week's St Andrews Boys' Open and the British Boys' Championship at Kilmarnock (Barassie) the following week.

"I'd have been pleased to get into the second round but to make the fourth round and play someone like James was very good," said the Musselburgh 17-year-old. "I'm now looking to win the St Andrews Boys' Open and then do well in the British Boys."

Marr didn't get off to the best of starts against Byrne when he lost a ball from his opening tee shot but he recovered well from that and won the 11th to get back on level terms.

Byrne regained the initiative with an eagle at the 12th, holing a 15-footer, before Marr missed a shortish par putt at the 16th to go two down.

"I didn't drive the ball as well today and got a bit frustrated when some of my shots weren't working out as I was hoping," added this year's double Monktonhall champion. "But I'm going away with a lot of positives and there's no doubt that taking on better players makes you raise your own game."

"I'd have been pleased to get into the second round but to make the fourth was very good"