KirkwoodGolf

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

ELLIOT SALTMAN (73) PUTS
"OFFICIAL" SCOTS IN
THE SHADE IN SPAIN

Craigielaw's Elliot Saltman, not a member of the official Scottish Golf Union squad who made the trip, was the top Scot at the end of the first qualifying round of the Spanish men's open amateur championship at Desert Springs Golf Club today.
Elliot coped better with the heat than his compatriots, returning a a one-over-par 73 to be sharing 20th place going into the second and final qualifying round.
Only the leading 32 players at the end of Thursday's play will advance to the match-play stages.
The oldest of the three Saltman brothers, Elliot, although he is a +3 handicap player and won the North of Scotland open amateur stroke-play at Elgin two years ago, has never had the same recognition as Walker Cup player Lloyd nor the youngest of the three, Zack, who won the world hickory championship last year.
Zack had a 79 today.
Former Scottish champion Glenn Campbell (Blairgowrie) and young Robert McKnight (Barassie) had 76s.
Youngster Ross Kellet (Colville Park) had a 77 and John Gallagher (Swanston) a 78. Both Ross and John began their rounds with double bogeys.
England's Gary Boyd, a winner at Mission Hills, China earlier this winter, set the first-round pace with a sparkling five-under-par 67.

LEADING FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND SCORES

67 Gary Boyd (Eng).68 Edouard Dubois (Fra), Jesus Legarrea (Spa), Paul Waring (Eng).69 Miro Veijalainen (Fin).70 Gonzalo Berlin (Spa), Steven Capper (Eng), Alexander Knappe (Ger), John Parry (Eng), Antonio Rosado (Por), Chris Wood (Eng).71 Sam Hutsby (Eng), David Horsey (Eng), Pedro Figueiredo (Por).
Other scores included:
72 Lloyd Campbell (Eng), Matthew Cryer (Eng).73 Jack Hiluta (Eng), Ben Parker (Eng), Elliot Saltman (Sco).74 Jamie Abbott (Eng), Matt Haines (Eng), Simon Ward (Ire), Ricki Neil-Jones (Eng), Matthew Baldwin (Eng), Ryan Thomas (Wal).75 Jonathan Hurst (Eng), Ben Evans (Eng), Daniel Belch (Eng).76 Robert McKnight (Sco), Daniel Brooks (Eng), Glenn Campbell (Sco), Gareth J Evans (Eng), Rhys Enoch (Wal), Adam Hodkinson (Eng), Jack Senior (Eng).77 Ian Winstanley (Eng), William Bowe (Eng), Ross Kellet (Sco), Llewellyn Matthews (Wal).78 John Gallagher (Sco).79 Zack Saltman (Sco).