Macpherson takes Amateur title as Stewart's putter fails

The Troon Welbeck youngster, aiming to become the first Scot in 75 years to hold both the Scottish and British crowns at the same time, went down 3 and 2 to Australia's Bryden Macpherson in the 36-hole duel in Southport.

Stewart, 21, had cut an impressive swathe through the field during the week with a series of comprehensive performances but the putter that had served him so well betrayed him and Macpherson, who gauged the speed of the greens to perfection, took full advantage.

"Bryden holed everything today and he just putted me off the park," said Stewart, the second Scot in a row to lose in the final after James Byrne's defeat at Muirfield last year.

"He putted like I had been doing during the week. For some reason my game wasn't there in the morning and didn't feel comfortable. I ended up trying to force things a bit and I was just giving him holes."

Despite winning the opening hole of the day, the seeds of Stewart's woes on the greens were swiftly sown at the very next hole when he three-putted from 12 feet in an ugly bogey six to allow Macpherson to restore parity.

All-square heading to the turn, the former Scottish Boys' champion missed a five-footer at nine to fall one behind and then trundled a four-footer by continued at the 10th to lose another hole. When he gave himself a birdie chance from five feet at the 11th to quickly reduce the leeway, the sorry story as he failed to find his target.

Two-down at lunch, Stewart again missed from a short distance on the first hole of the afternoon to go three-down but a birdie at the 20th kick-started a spirited rally. He eagled the 23rd to cut Macpherson's lead to one and holed his best putt of the day from 30 feet at the 29th to stay just that solitary hole behind.

The fightback was crushed, however, on the 32nd when Stewart three-jabbed and Macpherson essentially wrapped up the victory on the 33rd when he rolled in a 20-footer for a birdie to move three ahead.

"When I holed that 30-footer to stay just one behind I thought I could still do it," added Stewart. "But then I three-putted and when he holed for birdie on the 33rd I knew it was curtains."

Macpherson, a 20-year-old from Melbourne, became the first Australian since Doug Bachli in 1954 to win the title and can now look forward to teeing up in next month's Open at Royal St George's and the 2012 Masters at Augusta.

"57 years is a long time and hopefully I've made a few Aussie's happy," said Macpherson, a student at the University of Georgia in the States.

"This is the best amateur event in the world and it's the one I've always wanted to win. For some reason, I had the confidence that is was going to happen for me this week."