24/07/12
St Andrews’ Ewan Scott, the Golf Data Lab Scottish Youths champion, started his bid for a notable double this year with a superb four-under-par 67 in the first round of the Stephen Gallacher Foundation Scottish Boys Stroke Play Championship at Cardross.
The 17-year-old, who triumphed in the Youths at Ladybank in May and was also runner-up to Craig Howie at the Paul Lawrie Foundation Scottish Boys, began his pursuit of another prestigious title with a bogey-free round near Dumbarton.
Scott, the SGU National Boys’ Squad player, began his challenge in the 72-hole event with a birdie at the third before adding further birdies at 13, 14 and 18 to open up an early two-shot lead over Ryan Shuttleworth (Workington).
“I played steady golf and putted better, something I’ve been struggling a little with lately,” said Ewan, who was in the first group out at 7am. “I’m happy with the start.
“Winning this and the Youths would be cool, but it’s not in my mind. We will see where we are in a couple of rounds.”
Conditions were still wet at Cardross, but the course had dried out remarkably well, given the recent downpours, for the 144-strong field.
Tucked in behind Shuttleworth are four players on one-under-par, including last year’s SGU Boys’ Order of Merit winner Greig Marchbank (Dumfries & County) and Scottish Golf Academy member Ewen Ferguson (Bearsden). Also in the group are Angus Carrick (Douglas Park) and Italian Jacopo Guasconi.
Gallacher, whose Foundation are sponsoring the event for the first time, is unable to be at Cardross this week as he is competing on The European Tour in Austria seeking to return to the world’s top 100 to qualify for the US PGA Championship.
But former Open champion Paul Lawrie, another superb backer of Scottish junior golf, was in attendance today, keeping an eye on son Craig (Deeside), who opened with a 75.
Other notable first-round scores included a 72 from Peebles' Howie, while home club member, Cameron Farrell, posted a 74. Anthony Blaney (Liberton) is well-placed on 71, with Cawder's Jamie Savage and Lawrence Allan (Alva) firing 72s.
>> Click here for full first-round scores from Cardross
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