Wind-tamer Michael Stewart

scores first US college win

Michael Stewart, last year's Scottish boys' match-play champion from Troon, has scored his first win near the end of his first year as a golf scholarship student at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City.
Irvine-born Stewart, 19, had rounds of 72, 70 and 71 for a three-under-par total of 213 to come from behind over the final round and win the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship by one stroke at Keith Hills Country Club, Buies Creek in North Carolina.
Stewart was lying 10th going into the final day when the wind got up to 25 to 30mph with even stronger gusts. The Scot's one-under-par 71 in those codnitions over a 6819yd course saw him rocket up to the pole position as his rivals struggled to cope.
"I guess the weather suited me, being that I'm from Scotland," said Stewart. "The other guys don't normally play in a wind like that. I just tried to stay patient, keep my composure and try to manufacture shots under the wind. I knew that chances to score would come if I stayed patient." Out in two-over-par 38, Stewart came storming home in three-under-par 33, brilliant scoring in the conditions.
East Tennessee State University head coach Fred Warren said: "Michael played a really great round of golf on the last day. The wind almost blew everybody else off the course, but not Michael. His performance was a very big bright spot for me in what was not a very good performance by the team as a whole."

East Tennessee State finished fourth of 11 in the team event and victories by teams are rated more highly, certainly by the college coaches, than individual successes.
Warren has been hoping that Stewart will develop into a team-leading player to fill the gap left by Edinburgh-born former Walker Cup player Rhys Davies who starred for East Tennessee State University for four years. The Scot is certainly going that way.
Former British boys' champion Jordan Findlay from Fraserburgh, who is coming up to the end of his four-year stay at East Tennessee State University, also played well in the last-day wind for a 74, a score beaten only by Stewart and a handful of others, but his earlier rounds of 81 and 74 added up to a total of 229, which earned the Buchan player only a share of 41st place in a field of 55.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 216 (3 x 72) 6819yd
213 Michael Stewart (East Tennessee State) 72 70 71.
214 Vaita Guillaume (Campbell University) 69 69 76.
Selected scores:
221 Rhys Enoch (East Tennessee State) 70 75 76 (jt 14th).
224 Seamus Power (East Tennessee State) 77 71 76 (jt 27th).
229 Jordan Findlay (East Tennessee State) 81 74 74, Paul O'Kane (East Tennessee State) 76 74 79 (jt 41st).
LEADING TEAMS
867 Campbell University. Also: 881 East Tennessee State (4th of 11).

PAUL FERRIER JOINT 5TH IN ATLANTIC

TEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Paul Ferrier, the 2007 Scottish boys' match-play champion from Edinburgh, finished a creditable joint fifth in a field of 60 for the Atlantic Ten Conference Championship at Mission Inn Resort, Howie in the Hills, Florida.
Over a par-71 course of some 6887yd, Ferrier, a first-year student at the University of Charlotte, North Carolina, had rounds of 71, 73 and 76 for a total of 220, eight shots behind the winner by four strokes, team-mate Corey Nagy with 71, 69 and 72.

Alan Glynn from Middlesex, a student at Xavier University, Cincinnatti, finished joint seventh on 221 with scores of 78, 71 and 72.
Ferrier, who will be 20 on May 17, helped his university with the team title with a total of 872, 10 shots ahead of runners-up Xavier.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS

Par 213 (3 x 71) 6887yd

212 Corey Nagy (Charlotte) 71 69 72.

216 Stefan Wiedergruen (Charlotte) 68 74 74.

Selected scores:

220 Paul Ferrier (Charlotte) 71 73 76 (jt 5th).

221 Alan Glynn (Xavier) 78 71 72 (jt 7th).

LEADING TEAM TOTALS

872 Charlotte. 882 Xavier. 897 Richmond. 12 teams took part.

MADDISON AND MIDDLETON'S TOP 10 PLACINGS

HELP HUTCHINSON WIN TEAM TITLE

Nicky Maddison from Newcastle, a smash-hit for the Hutchinson Community College golf team in Kansas circles, finished joint fifth of 74 in the NJCAA Division 1 (District 3) championship at Wildhorse Golf Club, Gothenburg, Nebraska.

Maddison scored 78, 74 and 74 for 226 - six shots behind the winner, Steven McGlynn (Indian Hills CC) with 71 74 and 75.

Maddison's team-mate, Dale Middleton from Coventry, finished eighth on 229 with scores of 76, 77 and 76 over th par-7, 6955yd course.

Hutchinson (909), thanks to the efforts of the two English students, won the team title by two shots from Indian Hills with Dodge City (921) third of the 13 teams.