Connor Graham and two of his Perthshire team-mates cruised into the matchplay stages of the R&A Boys’ Championship at Carnoustie, while Grace Crawford is also through to the Girls’ draw.
Connor is still just 15 and won the R&A Junior Open champion last month. He will be joined the 64 for the matchplay stages by fellow Blairgowrie member Cormac Sharpe and by Auchterarder’s Daniel Bullen.
Birdies at the first two holes
In Tuesday’s second qualifying round Connor played within himself at Panmure. He’d set himself up with Monday’s two-under 69 at Monifieth – the venue where he won the Junior Open.
Back-to-back birdies in the first two holes took him to four-under, but he didn’t need anything else to be sure of his place at Carnoustie on Thursday. He finished with a par round of 70 – good enough for seventh place in the qualifying standings.
Daniel is fresh from a solid performance in a losing cause with Scotland in the Junior Home Internationals at Downfield last week. He had a two-over 72 over Panmure but his two-under 69 at Monifieth on Monday had left him with plenty in hand. He qualified comfortably in 22nd place.
Cormac also went through after rounds of 70 and 73. Another Scot making the draw was new Scottish Amateur champion Oliver Muhkerjee of Gullane, who went 72-70 for one-over, good enough to sail through.
Oliver’s clubmate Harry Bent came through thanks to a brilliant second round of 68 leaping him up the standings. Ross Laird (Glenbervie), who also played at Downfield last week, just edged into the matchplay draw on three-over.
Grace sails into Girls’ draw
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Over at the Carnoustie Championship links Grace, the R&A’s Girls Under-16 champion from earlier this year, sailed into the matchplay stages. She shot an excellent two-over 73 to jump 30 places into the top twenty qualifiers for the Girls’ Championship.
Like Connor, Grace – also still just 15 – played for the senior Home Internationals team in Ballyliffin in Ireland last week instead of at Downfield.
After Monday’s seven-over 78 she bounced back well on the second day. By the time she lost four shots in the last five holes into the gusting wind, qualification was assured.
Grace was the first Scot to win the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open in 20 years in April. She will however be the only Scot in the Girls’ matchplay draw seeking to follow countrywoman Hannah Darling as champion.
Leading the Girls’ qualifiers – and the only player under par for the two days – was Spain’s Paula Martin Sampedra, who had rounds of 69 and 71. England’s Lottie Woad was second three shots back.
The Boys’ qualifying was led by another Spaniard, Jorge Siyuan Hao, with a four-under total of 137. Italy’s Marco Florioli and Wilhelm Ryding from Sweden were second on three-under.