STIRLING STUDENT OLIVER ROBERTS WINS BOYD QUAICH TOURNAMENT AT ST ANDREWS
REPORT BY THOMAS MARR
Oliver Roberts (University of Stirling) won the 2012 Boyd Quaich Memorial Tournament after the closest finish in the history of the event first contested in 1946.
After two rounds on both the Old Course (par 72) and New Course (par 71), four of the 71 players were tied on 284 (-2) and so a countback was needed to decide the champion. Freddie Edmunds (St Andrews), Gary Hurley (NUI Maynooth) and Steven Smith (Western Carolina) were the players who lost out by virtue of their slightly worse scores in the final two rounds.
THIRD ROUND COMPARISON
For Edmunds and Roberts, who comes from Hong Kong originally, it was a comparison of their 3rd round scores which decided the winner with Roberts' third round of 70 edging his rival's 73.
Oliver Roberts (University of Stirling) won the 2012 Boyd Quaich Memorial Tournament after the closest finish in the history of the event first contested in 1946.
After two rounds on both the Old Course (par 72) and New Course (par 71), four of the 71 players were tied on 284 (-2) and so a countback was needed to decide the champion. Freddie Edmunds (St Andrews), Gary Hurley (NUI Maynooth) and Steven Smith (Western Carolina) were the players who lost out by virtue of their slightly worse scores in the final two rounds.
THIRD ROUND COMPARISON
For Edmunds and Roberts, who comes from Hong Kong originally, it was a comparison of their 3rd round scores which decided the winner with Roberts' third round of 70 edging his rival's 73.
Smith, a former Heriot Watt University student from the Edinburgh area, was a top-five finisher in the 2011 Boyd Quaich and he put his experience to good use to be leading after 3 rounds.
In comparison, Hurley started slowly with a 3-over 74 in round one but he played beautifully during rounds two and three to be one shot behind Smith with the final round to play.
Edmunds was very consistent and while he was 4 shots behind after three rounds he was always still in with a chance given that the Old Course is effectively home turf for the University of St Andrews golfer.
FIGHTING A HOOK
Roberts played steadily but seemed to be fighting a pull hook at times and it is testament to his short game that he was only 4 shots behind with 18 holes remaining. At this stage, James Lynch (Kingston) was still in the hunt too and his brilliant best-of-the-day 68 in round two showed his capabilities over the Old Course.
At the start of the final round it was Edmunds and Roberts who took the initiative and made ground on Smith over the front nine. All four leading players will look back and think that they had a chance to win outright but it will be Hurley who might feel that he had the best opportunity to clinch the title on the 18th.
His seven-foot right-to-left birdie putt missed on the low side of the hole and he had to settle for par.
Despite the poor weather in the first two rounds and the thick rough on the courses this year, the scoring was very impressive. The undoubted round of the week was recorded by Loughborough University's Tai Yasuda who scored 66 on the Old in round four. This moved him from the middle of the pack into a tie for 9th overall.
With the final round being played in calm and often-sunny conditions, the players were able to show their talent and a sizeable crowd were gathered around the 18th green to see the end of the event.
DOWN TO THE FINAL PUTT
For the second year running the climax of the event came down to the final putt; to have four players involved was tremendously exciting and all involved appeared to savour the experience. We hope that they will all be able to return next year to put on a similar show.
The Boyd Quaich is organised and run by the Athletic Union of the University of St Andrews, and receives significant grant aid from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club with support from the St Andrews Links Trust. Without this financial help it would not be possible for many of these young golfers, especially from overseas, to be able to play in this prestigious WAGR-counting event.
In comparison, Hurley started slowly with a 3-over 74 in round one but he played beautifully during rounds two and three to be one shot behind Smith with the final round to play.
Edmunds was very consistent and while he was 4 shots behind after three rounds he was always still in with a chance given that the Old Course is effectively home turf for the University of St Andrews golfer.
FIGHTING A HOOK
Roberts played steadily but seemed to be fighting a pull hook at times and it is testament to his short game that he was only 4 shots behind with 18 holes remaining. At this stage, James Lynch (Kingston) was still in the hunt too and his brilliant best-of-the-day 68 in round two showed his capabilities over the Old Course.
At the start of the final round it was Edmunds and Roberts who took the initiative and made ground on Smith over the front nine. All four leading players will look back and think that they had a chance to win outright but it will be Hurley who might feel that he had the best opportunity to clinch the title on the 18th.
His seven-foot right-to-left birdie putt missed on the low side of the hole and he had to settle for par.
Despite the poor weather in the first two rounds and the thick rough on the courses this year, the scoring was very impressive. The undoubted round of the week was recorded by Loughborough University's Tai Yasuda who scored 66 on the Old in round four. This moved him from the middle of the pack into a tie for 9th overall.
With the final round being played in calm and often-sunny conditions, the players were able to show their talent and a sizeable crowd were gathered around the 18th green to see the end of the event.
DOWN TO THE FINAL PUTT
For the second year running the climax of the event came down to the final putt; to have four players involved was tremendously exciting and all involved appeared to savour the experience. We hope that they will all be able to return next year to put on a similar show.
The Boyd Quaich is organised and run by the Athletic Union of the University of St Andrews, and receives significant grant aid from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club with support from the St Andrews Links Trust. Without this financial help it would not be possible for many of these young golfers, especially from overseas, to be able to play in this prestigious WAGR-counting event.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 286 (2x72, Old; 2x71, New)
284 Oliver Roberts (Stirling ) 73 71 70 70
284 Freddie Edmunds (St Andrews ) 72 69 73 70
284 Gary Hurley (NUI Maynooth) 74 68 69 73
284 Steven Smith (Western Carolina ) 69 70 71 74
286 James Lynch (Kingston
290 Greg Smail (Louisiana-Monroe) 75 73 73 69
290 Varun Varadharajan (Heriot Watt) 73 73 73 71
290 Ambroise Fourquet (Bordeaux
291 Tai Yasuda (Loughborough) 71 78 76 66
291 Chris Stewart (UCLAN) 73 75 71 72
291 Jack Pierse (Uni Coll, Dublin
293 Rob Patterson (Bournemouth ) 71 74 76 72
294 Jerram Chudleigh (Griffith) 74 75 75 70
295 Roddy Forgie (Edinburgh) 71 75 78 71
296 Alex Hulls (Bournemouth ) 71 75 74 76
297 Kristofer Karlsson (Embry Riddle) 76 71 78 72
297 Werner Ferreira (Pretoria , S Africa ) 78 74 71 74
298 Roman Votteler (Stellenbosch) 75 72 79 72
298 Thomas Main (Cape Town
299 Ryan Gribben (Ulster
299 Robert Smith (Swansea
299 Sebastian Backlund (Francis Marion) 72 76 72 79
300 Daniel Lewis (Loughborough) 76 74 78 72
301 Tim Greaves (Queens, Belfast
302 Mark Duncalf (UCLAN) 76 74 79 73
303 Frazer Ogston (Texas
304 Angus Carrick (Stirling ) 74 73 77 80
308 Daniel McCrea (Queens, Belfast
310 Tertius Van Den Berg (Pretoria
317 Nick Deutrom (Sydney) 77 76 82 82
Labels: Student golf
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