Tight at the top in Boyd Quaich

students' event at St Andrews

It’s a three-way tie for the lead with one round left to play in the Boyd Quaich Memorial students’ international golf tournament.
Will Bowman (North Carolina), Matthew Williams (Aston University) and Gordon Stevenson (University of St Andrews) lead the field at 215 (one over par) with 18 holes on the Old Course to go.
Two rounds were played on Wednesday and at halfway it was Gordon Stevenson who held a six-shot lead after he added a level par 72 on the Old Course to his blistering first round 64 on the par 71 New Course.
However, things went a little awry for Gordon in the third round as he scored 79 which brought him back to the chasing pack. The main damage was done on the ninth hole where a quadruple bogey 7 undid most of his hard work
Williams and Bowman shot 73 and 71 respectively on the New Course and that means that they will be in the final group on Thursday morning’s final round. Last year’s runner-up, Daniel Sommerville, is just 2 shots back on 217 after a fine 72 on the New. His round could have been much better as it included a lost ball on the par 5 eighth. Daniel managed to make an eagle with his second ball so no momentum was lost but it was a case of ‘what might have been’ at the end of the round.
The best rounds of the day came from Aaron O’Callaghan and Marco Cioffrese who both managed one-under 70. They now find themselves part of a six-strong chasing pack four shots adrift of the leaders.

LEADING THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 214 (2x71,1x72)
215 Will Bowman (North Carolina) 70 74 71, Matthew Williams (Aston) 71 71 73, Gordon Stevenson (St Andrews) 64 72 79.
217 Daniel Sommerville (Dundee) 70 75 72, Joshua Clakre (Abertay) 71 73 73.
218 Christo Harms (Pretoria) 75 70 73, Kevin Stack (University College Cork) 73 70 75.
219 Aaron O’Callaghan (Southeastern Louisiana) 77 72 70, Marco Cioffrese (St Gellen) 76 73 70, Joe Campbell (North Carolina) 76 72 71, Philipp Dirkx (Grenoble) 73 74 72, Patrick Brimmer (Loughborough) 73 73 73, Kevin Duncan (Clayton State) 67 75 77.
220 Frazer McKenna (Southeastern Louisiana) 75 73 72, John Wybar (Aberdeen) 75 72 73.
221 Darragh Cochlan (Greensboro) 73 73 75, Wilson Bowen (Stanford) 72 73 76, Gerard Kelly (University College Dublin) 73 70 78.
222 Scott Samuel (Canada) 71 75 76, John Green (University College Dublin) 72 73 77.
223 Ben Wescoe (Yale) 76 73 74.
224 Neil McBride (Clayton State, Georgia) 76 73 75, Stephen Pointon (St Andrews) 74 72 78.