Miller begins his quest for Amateur title after making unwelcome cut

OF all the 74 winners on the opening day of the Allied Surveyors Scottish Amateur Championship at Gullane, it's unlikely that anyone had a more traumatic build up to the SGU's flagship event than Duddingston's David Miller.

In fact, there seemed little chance of him being on the first tee yesterday as he sat in the A&E department of Edinburgh's Western General Hospital on Saturday afternoon after a gardening accident.

"I was using a hedgecutter but, in a rush to get it done so that I could make it to a friend's wedding, I cut my leg open. I thought there was no chance of being here as I saw blood squirting everywhere," said the 32-year-old, a golf director with Edinburgh-based insurance brokers Carrick Neill. "However, I was quite fortunate that I didn't hit any ligaments or bone."

In the circumstances, Miller's performance in beating Pollok's James Henrick, a player who's been in good form lately, by 7 and 6 on a changeable day on the East Lothian coast was nothing short of remarkable. He had just 15 putts in those 12 holes and raced to the turn in 32, three-under, to leave his younger opponent wondering what had hit him. The only disappointment for Miller was that he wasn't joined in the next round by his dad, Derek, the 60-year-old Murrayfield man giving a good account of himself, nonetheless, before succumbing to Callum Trahan of Murcar Links.

Having lost in the first round three years in a row, Banchory's James Byrne heaved a sigh of relief after he avoided the same fate this time around, beating Craig Ross of Kirkhill by 3 and 2. Not that the top seed got things all his own way against a 17-year-old who impressed his opponent. Two down after three, Byrne was still behind playing the 12th, where he was in danger of falling a couple of holes in arrears again but holed from eight feet for a birdie and then watched Ross miss from closer range.

Byrne, who reached the final of the Amateur Championship at neighbouring Muirfield just over a month ago, got his nose in front for the first time in the match when a par proved good enough at the 14th, won the next with a birdie before clinching his win after Ross was unable to make a par-3 at the 16th. "I was right up against it," conceded the 21-year-old. "Craig played brilliant. He wasn't giving me any holes. In fact, the first mistake he made was on the 14th."

Another tricky test lies in wait for Byrne today in the shape of Scott Borrowman, the 2007 Scottish Youths' champion from Dollar. A quarter-finalist in this event two years running at Prestwick and Carnoustie, Borrowman has been struggling with his game for the past 18 months but was encouraged by a good driving display that secured a 6 and 5 success against Greenburn's Stuart McKechnie. Michael Smyth, Byrne's conqueror at Royal Troon 12 months ago, made his mark again on the opening day, this time accounting for Fifer Scott Crichton, who had been hoping to advance his claims for a place in the Scotland side for next month's Home Internationals in Wales. Smyth, a 24-year-old, was particularly pleased with his game from tee to green in a 6 and 5 success.. Peter Latimer, the St Andrews New man who won the East of Scotland Open at Lundin last month, also suffered an early exit, it wasn't all doom and gloom for the Fife players though as two other St Andrews New members, Greg Paterson and Ian Redford, safely negotiated their opening encounters, as did James White, the 2006 Scottish Boys' champion from Lundin.

The No 5 seed, White lost a ball off his opening tee shot with a 4-iron and found himself two down after seven to Grant Minnes from Hayston. However, the 22-year-old Stirling University student found his rhythm around the turn and sealed a 3 and 1 win after his opponent put his drive into "waist-high rough" at the left of the 17th, had a hack it but then couldn't find his ball despite the fact it hardly moved.

Philip McLean and Kris Nicol, two of the other seeded players in action on the first day, progressed without too much fuss. McLean, the Peterhead 23-year-old who tops the SGU Order of Merit, covered the first five holes in two-under in taking care of Craigielaw's Martin Stein, while Nicol, a 25-year-old from Fraserburgh, recovered from being one down early on to beat Wilson Bryson, a former Scottish internationalist and now a national selector.

Late in the day, Alasdair McDougall, a 15-year-old from Elderslie who earned an 11th-hour entry into the event following a withdrawal, had a one-hole win over Stephen Buckley, the 2000 Scottish Boys' champion from Royal Burgess.