SCOTLAND’S Connor McKinney lead the qualifiers into the matchplay stage of the 93rd R&A Boys’ Amateur Championship, at North Devon’s Saunton Golf Club.

Playing in challenging conditions, McKinney posted an even-par round of 71 on the West Course to finish on five-under par after two rounds.

McKinney was a shot clear of Frenchman Martin Couvra and Welshman Archie Davies as a total of 18 English players made it through to the knockout, including Hallamshire’s Daily Telegraph Junior Champion Barclay Brown, Heysham’s John Wilding and Northamptonshire County’s latest England prospect Joe Quinn, plus three other Scots.

Experiencing a mixed day on course, McKinney’s round was almost derailed by a double bogey seven on the par-five 10^th hole after he hit his drive out of bounds.

However, he held his composure to record four birdies and a bogey on his way into the clubhouse as the leading qualifier.

McKinney said: “It was really windy so that was always going to be a factor. When the rain came it made it really tricky, but I handled my game pretty well and stuck to my plan.

“I stayed committed after a bad start to the back-9, it can really get away from you in that wind.

‘I hit my driver out of bounds on 10 and made double – but I made four birdies in my next six holes, so I really bounced back.

“It gives me an extra bit of confidence going into the matchplay, I know that I have already beaten everyone in the field so I know that I can do it in the match play.”

Finishing as the leading qualifier has filled McKinney with confidence heading into the matchplay, a format in which he is showing form.

He won four-and-a-half out of six matches for Scotland at last week’s &A Boys’ Home Internationals which England won for a fourth year in a row..

Couvra recorded his second 69 in as many days thanks to a birdie on the 18^th hole of Saunton’s East Course.

At 16 years of age Couvra was pleased to go through to the matchplay in his Boys’ Amateur Championship debut.

Couvra said: “This is my first time in this championship. I played very well this week. The rain and the wind was really hard but I still played well.

“I am happy but the matchplay will be a new competition. I will just try and play the same as I have been.

Playing the West Course early on Wednesday, Davies recorded an impressive 67, the lowest round of the day.

It featured five birdies and a lone bogey. The Cumbrian-based Welshman will be one to watch in the knockout having recently won the Welsh Amateur Championship, when he defeated Connor Jones 8&7.

A delighted Davies, who plays his golf at Carlisle GC, said: “I started off while the weather was awful, rain and windy, but I held onto a score early on and pushed on towards the end.

“So I am really pleased with the overall performance.

“I hit the ball better yesterday to be honest but today, around the greens, I was a lot better, a lot sharper and I made some good up and downs quite early on which kept the momentum going.

“I feel like my game has come together pretty well for this championship. I won the Welsh Amateur a couple of weeks ago. I won five matches in that so hopefully I can keep it going again this week.”

Overnight leader Tom Gueant, from France, was bogey-free for his first 29 holes before a triple bogey seven on the 12^th hole on the East, saw him slip down the leaderboard.

Guean recorded a bogey on the par-five 15^th followed quickly by a double bogey six on the 16^th to record a five-over 76.

However, Guean will head into last 64 having qualified tied fourth on three-under alongside another Scot, Cameron Adam, and Sussex’s Habebul Islam, after they recorded even-par second rounds on the East and West Courses respectively.

Also comfortably making the matchplay stage is England’s Florida-based junior international Joseph Pagdin, who is the highest-ranked player in the field.

Pagdin, another member of the Home Internationals-winning team, recorded rounds of 70 and 70 to be two-under-par and tied seventh.

He is joined on the same score by Czech Vaclav Tichy, Norway’s Alexander Settemsdal, Kevin Christopher Jegers, from Estonia, and Spaniard Rodrigo Martin.

The cut fell on four-over with 74 players progressing to the matchplay. Twenty – including four English teenagers and one Scot – will play in Thursday’s preliminary round with the second round commencing later in the morning.

Each match will consist of one round of 18 holes on the East Course before concluding with a 36-hole final, on Sunday.

For the full matchplay draw and scoring visit here. Admission and parking at Saunton are free.

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ENGLAND have won the R&A Boys’ Home Internationals for the fourth year running after defeating Ireland 8-7 in a nail-biting title decider at Ashburnham Golf Club.

For the second straight year, England triumphed at the expense of its Irish counterparts in a tense contest at the South Wales links course.

The match was almost a carbon copy of last year at Royal Dornoch. England won the deciding match by the identical score of 8-7 but, as with 12 months ago, it could have easily gone to the Irish.

England staged a remarkable comeback after losing the first morning foursomes session in three days of competition.

The Irish took a two-point lead into the 10 afternoon singles after winning the foursomes 3½-1½ – and looked like winning the trophy for the first time since 2013.

The early projections in the afternoon were Ireland would go on to win 8-7.But England slowly turned the tables on a strong Ireland team with good victories in the first seven matches.

They won five of those matches to get in front and it was an edge they would never relinquish.

Stoke Park’s World No. 2 Conor Gough led his side in the first singles matches and the B.B.&O. teeanger gained a half against Tom McKibbin.

Conor Gough, winner of last week’s English Amateur at Hankley Common, earned England a vital half against Ireland’s Tom McKibbin, in the Boys’ Home Internatinals, at Ashburnham.
Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

That result took the score to 4-2. USA-based Joe Pagdin and Peterborough Milton’s Robin Williams quickly evened the score at 4-4 with respective victories over Luke O’Neill and Aaron Marshal.

Ireland’s Joshua Hill hit back with a 5&4 victory over Hallamshire’s Barclay Brown to put Ireland ahead.

Hill deserves special mention as the reigning McGregor Trophy champion was the only player over the three days to win six points out of six.

England’s Max Hopkins, from Bishop’s Stortford, in Hertfordshire, wasn’t far behind, winning five and a half out of a possible six points.

Hill’s brilliant play couldn’t stop the English comeback though. The trio of Hopkins, Enrique Dimayuga, from Walton Heath, and Ipswich’s Habebul Islam put three further points on the board

That took their side to seven points and within reach of a fourth straight title win.

Islam’s match proved key to England’s success. He held a one-hole lead against Simon Walker playing the last and looked like he might lose the hole when he hit his second shot close to the out-of-bounds line on the left.

Suffolk’s Habebul Islam made a superb up-and-down on the last to beat ireland’s Simon Walker to set up the deciding match in England’s favour at Ashburnham GC. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

He then made the up and down of his young life, pitching the ball from 80 yards to four feet and holing the subsequent putt for par after Walker had missed his 20-foot birdie putt.

Cue delight from the English players watching Islam playing the 18^th. That point set up Callum Macfie to deliver the coup de grace.

The Lindrick teenager duly did so by birdieing the 17^th hole to defeat Max Kennedy 2&1 and ensure England retained the trophy for yet another year.

England captain Stephen Burnett said: “Even though we lost the foursomes this morning, I just felt that we could get six points out of the singles and that would do the job.

“We’ve got a very strong team and I knew they might just be stronger over the closing nine holes when the conditions got a little tougher.

“The wind picked up and the back nine played harder and the boys showed their talent by turning matches around that Ireland could’ve won.

“We got a lot of good performances. I thought Conor’s half point in the first match was important to get us off to a good start.

“Habebul’s par at the 18^th when he got up and down from 80 yards was crucial because it set up Callum to take us over the line, which he did.

“I’m over the moon,” Burnett added.

His Irish counterpart Alasdair Gibson was proud of his players despite coming up short for teh second year in a row.

Gibson said: “For the second year in a row we’ve just came up short. That’s golf. The first nine holes of the singles we were looking okay and it just turned around a bit.

“We were always struggling in matches there on the back nine. We did very well this morning in the foursomes. The boys played very well.

“The golf this afternoon was very good. There were a lot of birdies out there and at the end of the day they got more than we did.

“It was good effort but we just came up short. There’s no shame in losing to a strong team like England.”

Scotland and Wales finally got some joy in the foursomes after difficult results in the first two days.

They split the session 2½-2½ to set up an intriguing singles contest in the match for third place. Scotland won the session 6½-3½ to beat the Welsh 9-6 to finish third.

For full match results over the three days click here.

COVER IMAGE: England after winning the R&A Boys’ Home Internationals four a fourth year in a row by defeating Ireland at Ashburnham GC, on Thursday. Picture by THE R&A / GETTY IMAGES

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