THE AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP - Euan Walker through to the final at Portmarnock

Euan Walker (Kilmarnock Barassie) is through to the final of the 2019 Amateur Championship on Saturday 22nd June, after winning through two close matches on Friday in the quarter and semi finals.

In Friday morning's quarter finals Walker took on fellow Scotland internationalist Sandy Scott from Nairn.

The two players couldn't be separated over the outward nine, matching each other at every hole with birdies fours at the sixth and bogey fives at the eighth being the only departures from par.

Sandy Scott took the lead at the eleventh with a birdie three and went two ahead at the following hole when Euan Walker bogeyed. Like his match the previous afternoon however, Walker struck back immediately and a birdie at the thirteenth followed by a par at the fourteenth was enough to level the match once again.

When Scott bogeyed the sixteenth Euan Walker went ahead in the tie for the first time but the Nairn player wasn't finished and a closing birdie three sent the quarter final tie into extra holes.

Despite being pegged back at the final hole, Walker showed his resilience at the first extra hole, securing a winning birdie three to go through to the semi finals.

In the semi final on Friday afternoon Walker was up against England's Benjamin Jones (Northamptonshire County). 

As in the quarter finals, the two players couldn't be separated in the early holes, halving the first five before Walker took the lead with a birdie four at the sixth.

The lead was short lived however as a run of three successive bogeys from the eighth to the tenth saw Walker lose two of the three holes and go one behind in the match, before squaring the match once more with a winning par four at the eleventh.

A birdie four at the thirteenth put Walker one up again and when Jones conceded the sixteenth, Walker was dormie two and closed out the match by 2 & 1 with a half in par fours at the seventeenth.

With his semi final win on Friday afternoon Euan Walker becomes the first Ayrshire player to make the final since Michael Stewart in 2011 and in Saturday's final will be aiming to emulate another Kilmarnock (Barassie) member, Gordon Sherry, who was the last winner of The Amateur Championship in 1995.

Standing in Euan Walker's way as he bids for the Amateur Championship title is local favourite James Sugrue from Mallow GC, who defeated the highest ranked player in the field, David Micheluzzi from Australia by 3 & 1 in their semi final tie.

All at the Ayrshire Golf Association, and many golfers from throughout the county and beyond, wishes Euan Walker the best of luck in the final on Saturday.