Relieved Byrne is rewarded for his honesty with win at windy Gullane

JAMES Byrne, the top seed, overcame losing a hole at a crucial stage due to calling a penalty on himself to safely negotiate a tricky second-round encounter yesterday against Dollar's Scott Borrowman in the Allied Surveyors Scottish Amateur Championship at windswept Gullane.

As gusts of up to 30mph caused problems at holes on the highest parts of Gullane Hill, Byrne noticed his ball had moved after believing he'd grounded his putter as he stood over an eight-foot birdie putt at the par-5 15th. "The marking I use on my ball to line up my putts had moved and it had to have been down to the wind," said the Banchory player, who was three up at the time.

After calling the penalty on himself, Bryne holed the putt but his opponent knocked in a six-footer for birdie to win the hole and, in doing so, was handed a timely lifeline in a match that, as expected, had been a tight affair until the Amateur Championship runner-up won the ninth and tenth, went two up again with a chip and putt birdie at the 12th and also won the 14th with a par.

Unsettled by what had happened, Byrne didn't ground his putter when he was faced with a five-footer for a half at the short 16th, admitting afterwards he'd been a relieved man to see that one disappear into the hole before getting down in two putts from 60 feet at the next to clinch a 2 and 1 success.

"I've never been in that situation in the latter stages of such an important match and, if I'd lost two holes in a row, I would have been shaken," said Byrne. "The line wasn't in the same place on the ball and that's why I called the penalty on myself. If it had been The Open, play would have been called off because balls were oscillating on the greens. With my putt at the 16th, I hovered my putter behind the ball just in case, you couldn't risk grounding it. The greens aren't actually that fast but if they do get slick they're going to be calling it off because it is particularly bad in the exposed parts at the top of the hill."

Having overcome his first-round jinx earlier in the week and now beaten Borrowman, a former Scottish Youths' champion who reached the last eight in this event in 2007 at Prestwick and again at Carnoustie 12 months later, Byrne admitted he now feels settled on a course playing a lot harder than 2004, the last time it staged the SGU's flagship event.

Before Byrne had progressed to the last 64 along with fellow seeds Greg Paterson and Kris Nicol as well as Scottish Boys' champion Grant Forrest, David Law, the winner at Troon 12 months ago, and two of the other fancied contenders, Michael Stewart and Ross Kellett, all came through first-round tests.

Law, the 19-year-old from Hazlehead who has had a frustrating stop-start season due to injuries, was relieved to beat New Zealand-based Craig Hamilton, sealing a 3 and 2 success by sinking a 50-footer downhill with a fair bit of break, to boot, at the 16th. "This is the first time I've defended a title," said Law. Stewart, the 20-year-old former Scottish Boys champion from Troon Welbeck, was also pleased with his 4 and 3 victory and not just because it came against Leven Thistle's Brian Soutar, who is lying third in the SGU Order of Merit. "I was diagnosed with shingles last Friday," he reported afterwards. "I'm okay when I'm on the golf course but as soon as I sit down I feel shattered."

Benn McLeod knows how feels, though, in his case, it's got nothing to do with a viral illness. A greenkeeper at Gullane, he was out on the East Lothian course at 4.30am yesterday morning hand-cutting the greens as part of a shift that finished at 9.30am.

He was on the first tee for a 1.45pm tie against John Burns of Mount Ellen and, after winning that, the 22-year-old was back out on the course at 7pm for an evening shift. "I'm the sort of person who prefers being on the go but I'm probably going to be shattered as soon as I sit down," said Royal Musselburgh man McLeod. who, like 2007 champion John Gallagher, plays cack-handed.

Adding to a successful day for the host club, three Gullane members - former British Boys' champion Alan Smith, Stuart Roberts and Martin Hopley - all won their first-round matches at the 19th.

Kellett was two-under-par for the 16 holes he played in accounting for Fraser Fotheringham, a former British Boys' Championship finalist from Nairn.