Stewart, Arnold move at Scottish Amateur
BY Anthony Powter | World Amateur Mens Tour | 2008 Scottish Open Amateur Stroke Play | Round One | 01 Jun 2008
Tim Stewart and Scott Arnold have moved into contention at the conclusion of the qualifying round of the Bidwells Scottish Open Amateur Stroke Play at The Duke’s, St Andrews, with rounds of 72 to be T14th.
The pair are just five back from opening round leader, Adam Wainwright at 4-under-par, 67, the Englishman a stroke in front of South Africa’s Johan DeBeer and England’s Matthew Baldwin.
“I had 73 today and played reasonably solid,” said Stewart this evening from St Andrews.
“Despite having a few bogeys, I had three birdies and feel my game is coming along. Conditions today, unlike yesterday, were excellent.”
Tournament organisers had to modify the Championship to a 18-hole qualification, after heavy fog forced the cancellation of Friday’s opening round.
Twenty-one players, including Stewart and Arnold are clustered in a group only five strokes behind Wainwright, and with a 36-hole final round scheduled for Sunday, this Championship is anything but over. The cut came in at 3, with five out of seven Aussies, Scott Arnold (1), Rohan Blizard (2), Jonathan Welsh (2) and Matthew Gleeson (+3), including Stewart, inside the cut of top 40 plus ties.
Tom Prowse (5), Leighton Lyle (9) joined defending champion, Kevin McAlpine, and will rest for the final day.
Stewart remains confident his preparation for the British Amateur continues to progress well and is optimistic of another solid international performance.
“If I can get the putter rolling tomorrow, then I feel like maybe I can contend here,” says Stewart.
“We are all looking forward to the final round and it’s good to have Scotty [Arnold] and Rohan [Blizard] and the other Aussies all up there as well. If the weather remains good for tomorrow’s thirty-six anything can happen, as there’s bound to be some low scoring to be had out there.”
