Romain Wattel takes slow road to title at Glasgow Gailes

PLAYING at a snail's pace – he was given a warning after finishing his third round almost two holes behind the group in front – Romain Wattel added to an impressive list of French golfing success on Scottish soil at Glasgow Gailes yesterday.

Two clear at the halfway stage on the flat but extremely troublesome Ayrshire course, the 19-year-old, who lives just outside Paris, closed with rounds of 71 and 69 for a nine-under-par winning total of 275 in the Scottish Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship.

He finished six shots in front of English runner-up Billy Hemstock – they were the only two players to end the tournament under par – with Bryan Innes taking pride of place among the Scottish contingent as he closed with a two-under-par 69, the joint best of the day, to finish four strokes further back in third.

Wattel's countryman Francois Illouz claimed the same title at Blairgowrie back in 1989, while other French golfers, both amateur and professional, have found Scotland to be a happy hunting ground over the past 30 years.

Philipe Ploujoux sparked golf's version of the Auld Alliance when he won the Amateur Championship at St Andrews in 1981, while Christian Cevaer and Gregory Bourdy also tasted success before carving out careers for themselves on the European Tour. Cevaer won the 1987 World Junior Championship at Royal Aberdeen, while Bourdy was crowned as Scottish Youths' champion at Murrayshall in 2002.

Add in Thomas Levet winning the Barclays Scottish Open in 2004, Gregory Havret claiming both the 2007 Barclays Scottish Open and Johnnie Walker Championship in 2008 and Gwaldys Nocera triumphing in the 2008 Ladies' Scottish Open and it certainly makes an impressive 'French connection'.

"This is my first win in Great Britain and it is a big honour for me to follow other great champions from France who won in Scotland," said Wattel, who beat Scotland's Ross Kellett in the final to win the Argentine Amateur Championship last year.

On a day that proved more difficult than conditions for the opening two rounds, Wattel's position at the top of the leaderboard was strengthened as his main challengers lost ground on the Frenchman in the third round.

Hemstock, his playing partner and closest rival at the halfway stage, shot a 74 to slip five shots behind while Ayr Bellisle's Chris Harkins and Scott Gibson of Southerness, two of the leading Scots after two rounds, saw their hopes dashed by damaging starts.

Harkins, lying joint-third and four off the pace, had a quadruple-bogey and a triple-bogey in the opening six holes, while Gibson dropped 11 shots in four holes from the second, the main carnage being caused by a 10 at the second, where he lost two balls off the tee.

After taking just over four hours to complete their morning round, Wattel and Hemstock were both spoken to by Euan Mordaunt, the SGU's tournament director, before they headed back out again, with the leader suffering a dramatic start to his final lap as he lost a ball off the first tee and ran up a double-bogey 6. That cut his lead to three but a run of steady pars settled him down before he birdied to tenth to go four in front and, following another birdie at the 12th coupled with a brace of bogeys from Hemstock, his lead was up to seven and the tournament was effectively over as contest.

Innes, a 40-year-old who works as a wealth manager in his native Aberdeen, came home in 32, three-under, as he closed with a 69, the bronze medal matching his performance in the Scottish Amateur Championship a few miles down the coast at Royal Troon last summer.

"I was giving away 70 yards off the tee to most of those in the field but the course was set up tough and I tend to play better on harder courses," said the Murcar Links man, who had planned for this to be his last appearance in the event due to family commitments, but will now re-assess that decision and, as ninth reserve at the moment, is hoping he'll get into the forthcoming Amateur Championship at Muirfield.

Glenbervie's Graeme Robertson, a 21-year-old who is studying sport at Stirling University, also gave a good account of himself, closing with rounds of 70 and 74 to finish joint-fourth on 287.

"It is great being involved in the Stirling team and get some great support," he said. "(Sports psychologist] John Mathers, for instance, has been helping me visualise shots, which is important here, particularly with the tee shots."

Kellett and Michael Stewart, the two highest-ranked home players in the field, both missed the cut by a single shot, the former having a fresh-air putt as he went to tap in in his second round only to miss the ball and subsequently incur a one-stroke penalty.