SCOTTISH GOLF: Wednesday May 25th
FORMAT: 18-hole stroke play
A highly impressive effort in windy conditions looks set to be ideal preparation for Cormac Sharpe, who finished top in Scottish Men’s Open qualifying at Fraserburgh yesterday.
The main event gets under way at Cruden Bay, just south of Peterhead, on Friday and 38 golfers secured their spots with the 18-year-old from Blairgowrie shooting a three-under-par 67. That left him two clear of four other qualifiers with the cut mark coming at five over.
Sharpe has been a highly consistent performer in major events for the past two years – in 2021 he reached the last 16 of the Scottish Amateur and this year was placed 18th at the Battle Trophy.
And he is also hoping that the weather forecast for the weekend proves accurate. Winds of up to 30 mph are predicted across all three days while there should also be plenty of rain showers to test the resolve of the world-class field.
“I naturally hit it low so windy weather really favour me,” said the Blairgowrie junior who has been part of the Scottish Boys performance squad for the last three years.
“I have also got a new putter and it is working really well and I putted with a lot of confidence at Fraserburgh.”
The Perth & Kinross county player defied the testing conditions to reach four under thru 11 holes.
He added: “When I got to two or three under I knew I was going to make it because it was tough out there and then it was just a question of making a score.”
He got the perfect start to his round by firing a wedge to two feet at the first and then got on a roll around the turn. At the eighth he got rewarded for an excellent drive and, despite not managing the best of approaches, sank one from 20 feet to get to two under.
He almost holed his second at the next, the ball lipping out and coming to rest within gimme range before he collected his sixth three of the day at 11 thanks to a monster putt.
Sharpe’s first dropped shot came at the 14th where he short sided himself with his second and then failed to find the putting surface with his chip.
But he got that shot back at the par five that followed immediately after, laying up with his second and then pinging a wedge to eight feet.
At 18 he was unfortunate to not get up and down for a closing par but the short missed putt mattered little as he ended two ahead of Ryan Copland (Moray), St Andrews Boys Matchplay champion Sam Hall (Styal), Ferghus Milne (Banchory) and Saul Guilford (Moor Allerton).
Qualifying scores (par 70, Sco unless stated)
1) Cormac Sharpe (Blairgowrie) 67
2= Ryan Copland (Moray) 69
2= Sam Hall (Styal, Eng) 69
2= Ferghus Milne (Banchory) 69
2= Saul Guilford (Moor Allerton, Eng) 69
6= Sean Kennedy (Tain) 70
6= Liam Gobin (Sandiway, Eng) 70
8= Euan MacDonald (Murcar Links) 71
8= Ciaran Paterson (Royal Burgess Golfing Society) 71
8= Dylan Smith (Portlethen) 71
8= Sean Keeling (Roganstown) 71
8= George Cannon (Roganstown) 71
8= Shaun Hedger (West Kilbride) 71
8= Tyler Ogston (Nigg Bay) 71
8= Robbie Muir (Kilmarnock (Barassie)) 71
16= Alan Berrington (Drumoig) 72
16= Harry Carruthers (Mortonhall) 72
16= Craig Leith (Royal Aberdeen) 72
16= Steven Sinclair (Ratho Park) 72
20= Ben Read (Banchory) 73
20= Aidan Powter (St Michaels) 73
20= Barry Nelson (Lauder) 73
20= Derek Bond (Fraserburgh) 73
20= Freddie MacArthur (Ullesthorpe Court, Eng) 73
20= Jamie Van Wyk (Royal Lytham, Eng) 73
20= Matthew Raybould (Hornsea, Eng) 73
20= Andrew Whitford (Lilley Brook, Eng) 73
20= Liam Duncan (Dunniker Park) 73
20= Rikky Alexander (Braehead (Alloa) 73
30= Luke Stock (Walton Heath, Eng) 74
30= Liam Bentein (Waregem) 74
30= Cameron Gray (Cruden Bay) 74
30= Mark Halliday (Deeside) 74
30= Remy Miller (Prestbury, Eng) 74
30= Greg Brown (Cathkin Braes) 74
36= Andrew Thornton (New Golf Club) 75
36= George Finlay (Carnoustie) 75
36= John Joe Lockie (Tantallon) 75
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE DEFINITIVE LIST OF 2022 BRITISH AMATEUR GOLF RESULTS