Muckhart Golf Club’s Jamie Roberts showed how you play Royal Lytham today, shooting a superb 66 to put himself in a great position to qualify for matchplay stages of The Amateur Championship tomorrow.
FORMAT: 36-hole stroke play qualifier / 7 rounds of matchplay
The Clackmannanshire golfer did not find a bunker as he posted the lowest score of the day at the Open venue on a day where scoring was much lower at St Annes Old Links. After two rounds the top 64 go on to the matchplay stages, starting Wednesday morning
The 20-year-old, who attends Colorado State University, claimed five birdies and an eagle in getting to four under, one better than the next best at the main venue – South Africa’s Jonathan Broomhead. Meanwhile at St Annes, World No 2 Ludvig Aberg shot 65 (-7) to lead overall.
Roberts’ superb effort included a hole-out eagle at the par four 13th and he also sunk a long one at 18 to round off a great afternoon in the sunshine.
“It is a tough course; it is tight and luckily we got really nice weather today,” he said.
“I just hit it really solid and didn’t go a single bunker all day which is key because those bunkers are like having a shot penalty. I was in the fairway all day and really didn’t cause myself any stress. I was also in the right parts of the greens and held some really nice putts coming down the stretch.”
Roberts, who finished 41st at St Andrew Links Trophy last weekend, also missed a “short one” for birdie at 17 having recovered superbly from a bogey at the troublesome 15th, which caused enormous problems for the bulk of the field.
One of them was Yorkshireman Jack Maxey, who got to six under thru 14 in the windiest of the weather. The Hornsea player, who helped his club win the Yorkshire Team Championship last year, defied the odds in brilliant style.
However Lytham’s notorious closing holes caught him out, especially at 17, where he got an incredibly unlucky lie in the huge bunker up the left off the tee and, having found the putting surface in three, then three putted.
At 18 he also found sand with his drive and just slipped off the green in three, putting up to four feet and holing out for a closing bogey.
At St Annes the World No 2 Åberg showed his class, going bogey free in shooting a 65 (-7) and that included a chip-in eagle from 20 yards at the last.
The Swede said: “It was a fun day. I was actually expecting the wind to be a little bit more today but it was fun. It’s a nice track out here at St. Annes and looking forwards to Lytham tomorrow.”
For all the scores click here