'Stern words' from dad guide Michael Stewart to victory

MICHAEL Stewart marched through the opening matchplay round in the Amateur Championship at Hillside and swiftly praised the calming influence of his dad, and caddie, Robbie for helping to ease some early jitters.

The 22-year-old Troon Welbeck member surged to a 5 and 4 win over Longridge's Mark Young to set up a last-32 joust this morning with Brazil's Daniel Stapff.

Stewart had employed the services of his one-handicapper father during his victory in last year's Scottish Amateur championship and the Ayrshire alliance began another title tilt in impressive fashion yesterday despite initial apprehension.

A bogey on the first did little to settle the nerves but some words of wisdom from the old man on the fifth tee appeared to galvanise Stewart.

He rolled in a 15-footer for birdie there to go one-up and, having won the sixth with a par, he trundled in birdie putts of 18 feet and 30 feet at seven and nine to extend his lead to four and take charge of the tie.

"After the qualifying, the tournament really starts now so I was a bit anxious and nervous for the first few holes," said Stewart. "But then my dad had a stern word with me on the fifth tee and that seemed to settle me down.

"He's been on my bag since I left the boys' level and he's been with me at most of the big events. He knows my game inside out and it's good to have someone like that who can have a word in your ear and calm you down."

Stewart will be joined in the second round by St Andrews New member Greg Paterson, who finally made it across the first matchplay hurdle at the third time of asking.

The 24-year-old confessed he was not at his best against Portugal's Jose Maria Joia but, in a scrappy encounter, he managed to grind out a 2 and 1 victory.

"It was not pretty, to be honest, and it was one of those days when a few things went my way," said Paterson, who made a telling move around the turn and won the ninth and tenth with solid pars to forge a crucial lead.

As Stewart and Paterson made progress, the remaining three Scots in the field, Mark Bookless, Conor O'Neil and Kris Nicol, all suffered first-round defeats. Bookless went down on the final green to Sebastien Gros, of France, while fellow Glaswegian O'Neil also lost on the 18th to Ben Campbell, of New Zealand. Nicol fell behind to an eagle-three on the 17th against Frenchman Adrien Saddier and couldn't recover.

In the day's other fixture, Leicester's Greg Eason, became the eighth strokeplay medallist in the past 12 years to lose in the first round when he went down 2 and 1 to Matthew Wallace of Hertfordshire.