SCOTTISH UNDER 16 CHAMPIONSHIP - Third place finish for Walker after superb 64

Euan Walker

Euan Walker (Kilmarnock Barassie) finished third in the Scottish Under 16 Championship on Friday after a superb closing round of 64, the best round of the championship, at Forfar.

(Championship report from the Scottishgolf website)

Ben Kinsley from St Andrews is the new Scottish Boys Under-16s champion after carding a superb four-under par closing round of 65 to hold off the challenge from Newcastle’s Jack Hermeston.

The 15-year-old Madras College pupil, who posted a 68 in this morning’s second round to move into contention, finished with a four-under par aggregate of 203, one shot ahead of Hermeston, who saw his 30-foot birdie putt at the last just slip past.

Kinsley got his final round off to a flying start, hitting a wedge to within a foot of the first hole to set up an easy birdie, before rolling in a 25-foot birdie putt at the second to move to two-under. An unlikely birdie followed at the seventh after he caught a tree trunk at impact with his 7-iron in the process of hitting his approach shot to 10-feet, which snapped the shaft of the club, but he calmly rolled in the putt for a superb three.

A further birdie three followed at the tenth and despite dropping a shot at the 12th, he made birdie at the par five fourteenth hole, before paring home to clinch his first national championship.

“I played great all day, hitting it really well off the tee and holing some good putts. That’s one of my lowest ever rounds and it’s nice to do that in a big event like this. I got off to a good start this afternoon which was important and thankfully my wrist recovered after hitting the tree with my club at the seventh,” said Kinsley, coached by Gary Forrester in his first year of the Scottish Golf Academy programme.

“It’s been a good year so far having reached the semis of the Scottish Boys Championship. My goal is to keep progressing and hopefully I’ll do well in the McGregor Trophy down in England next week.”

Hermeston, a member of the Northumberland junior team, posted rounds of 69, 68 and 67 to clinch the runners-up spot, one shot clear of Barassie’s Euan Walker, who fired a superb final round of 64, the lowest score of the week. Walker, who opened with a 73 yesterday, was an incredible 8-under par for his last 24 holes.

Overnight leader, Italian Luigi Botta, finished level par in fourth place after rounds of 72 and 69.

Kinsley’s win continues Fife’s dominance of amateur golf events in Scotland this season, while the Kingdom’s golfers will be keeping a close eye on 1996 Scottish Boys Under-16s champion Peter Whiteford from Kirkcaldy, who currently shares the lead in the Barclays Scottish Open.

LEADING SCORES

203 (-4) - Ben Kinsley (St Andrews) 70  68  65

204 (-3) - Jack Hermeston (City Of Newcastle) 68  69  67
205 (-2) - Euan Walker (Kilmarnock Barassie) 73  68  64
207 ( 0) - Luigi Botta (Italy) 66  72  69

Other Ayrshire scores :-

212 (+5) - Callum Gorrie (Kilmarnock Barassie) 73  67  72 (tied 12th)

219 (+12) - Louis Murray (Troon Welbeck) 72  74  73 (tied 34th)