SCOTTISH CHALLENGE REPORT

SAM WALKER GOES FOUR CLEAR

WITH ONE ROUND TO GO

 

Birmingham-born Sam Walker strode past the faltering Scots leaders to shoot a brilliant seven-under-par 64 in a freshening south-westerly and take a commanding four-stroke lead on 12-under-par 201 into Sunday's final round of the Scottish Challenge at the Murcar Links.

"That has to be just about the best round of my life," said the 28-year-old Walker who lost to Steven Young in the 1995 British boys' championship final at Dunbar and has been a pro since 1998.

"I come into my own when conditions like this call for manufacturing shots into, across and down wind on a links course," said Sam. "Unfortunately, I don't get it like this too often. More's the pity. I hit the ball solid and putted really well, which is not so easy when the wind's blowing as strong as this."

Walker had an eagle 2 at the fourth and birdies at the first, third, fifth, eighth, 11th and 12th. He had one bogey when he misjudged the strength of the wind early in the round and saw his tee shot drift off line into a gorse bush on the left of the second fairway.

"From about the third to the 12th, when I improved from six under par to 12 under, I was absolutely brilliant, and I don't mind saying so," said Walker.

It was not a good day for the Scots who had started the third day seemingly in control of the leaderboard and finished up with Scott Henderson and Chris Doak best placed in joint fourth place, five shots behind the leader.

As Murray Urquhart from Inverness commented ruefully after his 75 - he had shot 67 and 68 in the first two days - "It was a totally different course today with that wind blowing. It's now playing like a true links course. That round by Sam Walker is almost unbelievable. He deserves to be four shots clear after a wonderful score. I know just how difficult it was out there."

Joint leaders after 36 holes, Doak and Jamie McLeary eventually struggled to stay in contention on the inward half. Doak had a double bogey 6 from a pulled drive at the sixth to fall out of the lead at that point and continued to shed shots to par. But he defiantly birdied the short 16th and finished. with a 73 for seven-under-par 206.

"That was the strongest wind we've had all week. It's hard to stay out of the rough when it's blowing like that," said Doak.

McLeary had two 6s on his inward card - a double bogey at the 10th and a bogey at the 14th. He returned a 74 for 207.

Scott Henderson, like McLeary, had a double-bogey 6 at the 10th. A birdie at the 11th was his last of the round. The Aberdonian signed for a 72 and 206.

At the end of the day, Walker leads by four shots from New Zealander Gareth Paddison and West Linton-based Welshman Gareth Wright. Wright had three bogeys and a birdie over the last four holes for a 71 and eight-under-par 205.

 

THIRD ROUND TOTALS

Par 71 X 3 = 213

 

201 S Walker (Eng) 68 69 64.

205 G Paddison (NZ) 67 71 67, G Wright (Wal) 68 66 71.

206 A Noren (Swe) 72 64 70, S Henderson (Sco) 68 66 72, C Doak (Sco) 70 63 73.

207 J McLeary (Sco) 68 65 74.

208 D Drysdale (Sco) 70 67 71, A S Hansen (Den) 67 67 74.

209 A Velasco (Spa) 68 67 74.

210 B Mason (Sand Moor) 70 70 70, B Hafthorsson (Ice) 71 69 70, D Robertson (Sco) 72 67 72, M Ilonen (Fin) 68 70 72, D Inglis (Sco) 71 67 72, E Ramsay (Sco) 69 68 73, K Staunton (Eng) 70 67 73, L Claverie (Spa) 70 66 74, M Urquhart (Sco) 67 68 75, C Gillies (Sco) 71 64 75.

211 M Pilkington (Wal) 71 66 74, O Bergman (Swe) 70 66 75.

212 M Persson (Swe) 75 67 70, A McArthur (Sco) 71 71 70, D De Vooght (Bel) 71 70 71, C De Corral (Spa) 74 67 71, G Acosta (Arg) 73 66 73, K Eriksson (Swe) 65 72 75.

213 B Coathalem (Fra) 77 65 71, R Ramsay (a) (Sco) 77 63 73, P Whiteford (Sco) 68 71 74, M Crespi (Ita) 70 67 76.

214 K L Jorgensen (Den) 70 72 72, G Hutcheon (Sco) 69 73 72, J Benedetti (Col) 71 70 73, O David (Fra) 71 70 73, M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 69 73, D Orr (Sco) 73 67 74, D Borrego (Spa) 69 70 75, S Manley (Wal) 67 70 77, L Bond (Wal) 70 66 78.

215 M Quiros (Spa) 72 70 73, G Davies (Eng) 71 71 73, C Reimbold (Ger) 75 67 73, M Soffietti (Ita) 71 69 75, G Fox (Sco) 73 66 76, S Bebb (Wal) 68 69 78, L Brovold (Nor) 68 69 78, R Cabrera Bello (Spa) 67 69 79.

216 R Echenique (Arg) 71 71 74, G Murray (am) (Sco) 74 68 74, J H Williams (Wal) 73 68 75, P Linhart (Spa) 74 66 76.

217 G Rojas (Arg) 71 71 75, E Thomson (Sco) 74 67 76, Z Scotland (Eng) 72 69 76, I Van Weerelt (Net) 71 69 77, C Kelly (Sco) 70 70 77, N Cheetham (Eng) 69 70 78, D P Jones (Ire) 72 67 78, D Lucas (Worksop) 73 65 79, M Higley (Eng) 70 67 80.

218 M King (Eng) 69 73 76, H Rey (Arg) 71 71 76, C Ronald (Sco) 69 73 76, R Gonzalez (Arg) 72 69 77, S Hurd (Eng) 69 72 77, N Vanhootegem (Bel) 71 70 77, A Quiros (Spa) 68 69 81.

219 J-B Gonnet (Fra) 75 67 77, F Andersson Hed (Swe) 68 72 69.

220 D Mooney (NIre) 74 68 78, N Walker (Eng) 70 69 81, M Loftus (Sco) 73 64 80.

223 G Lockerbie (Eng) 74 65 84.