Scotland’s Connor Graham stood agency on a testing day to complete because the main qualifier within the 129th Beginner Championship held at Ballyliffin in Eire.
The 17-year-old from Blairgowrie, who led the 288-strong discipline after a gap 65 on Ballyliffin’s Outdated Course, fortified his place on the high with a one-under-par 71 over the Glashedy Hyperlinks.
Walker Cup participant Graham ended his 36-hole stroke play marketing campaign with a seven-under-par combination of 136 and completed three strokes away from Norway’s Michael Alexander Mjaaseth.South Africa’s Ben van Wyk, who was the main qualifier in final yr’s championship, rose up the leaderboard into third place on three-under with a 67 on the Glashedy Hyperlinks.
Graham, a former winner of The R&A Junior Open, will now look to hold his rising momentum into the match play part as he goals to change into simply the fourth participant after Philip Parkin, Warren Bladon and Matteo Manassero to win the qualifier and go on to seize the title.
Throughout a cold, breezy day, which added loads of menace and mischief to the examination, Graham put in a composed, thought-about show and cemented his place on the high of the standings.
One-over by means of 14 holes, the previous Scottish Open Beginner Stroke Play champion made a powerful push for the road and picked up birdies on the fifteenth and seventeenth holes to dip under-par.
Mjaaseth briefly moved to the highest after three birdies on the entrance 9 of his second spherical over the Glashedy Hyperlinks and reached the flip in three-under. A bogey on the tenth, nonetheless, was adopted by a double-bogey on the twelfth because the Norwegian’s spherical started to unravel.
Mjaaseth steadied the ship with a neatly executed up and down for birdie on the seventeenth to ease into the match play stage with a 72 for four-under.
Van Wyk’s day had began with a bogey on the first gap, which solely served as motivation as he made a birdie on the 4th earlier than holing his second shot from 40 yards on the sixth for an eagle. Additional birdies on the seventeenth and 18th noticed van Wyk qualify in fashion.
English teenager Oscar Lent additionally produced a grandstand end and birdied the sixteenth earlier than rolling in an extended eagle putt of 50-feet on the seventeenth in a one-under-par 71 on the Glashedy Hyperlinks for a two-under complete.
The qualifying mark for the main 64 gamers and ties fell at three-over-par. With 19 gamers, together with Spain’s Jose Luis Ballester Bario, who birdied his ultimate three holes, highlighted by a 35-foot putt on the 18th, competing in a sudden dying playoff for 18 locations within the match play stage.
Richard Teder of Estonia, final yr’s quarter-finalist at Hillside, Walker Cup participant Jack Bigham and up to date St Andrews Hyperlink Trophy champion Sebastian Cave all progressed.
Notable gamers to overlook out included the very best ranked participant Christiaan Maas of South Africa, former Walker Cup gamers Matthew McClean and Liam Nolan in addition to the R&A Boys’ Beginner champion Kris Kim, who final month grew to become the youngest participant ever to make the minimize in a PGA Tour occasion.
For all of the scores, click on right here. To look at highlights of the motion on R&A’s Youtube channel, click on right here.
