SCOTTISH CHALLENGE

SAM WALKER WINS BY SIX AS AMATEUR

RICHIE RECLAIMS RECORD WITH A 62

  

Sam Walker from Birmingham chalked up the biggest win and picked up his biggest cheque (£22,115) of his eight-year professional career at Murcar Links on Sunday.

The 28-year-old, starting the final round with a four-shot lead after a superb, wind-taming 64 on Saturday, signed off with a six-under-par 65 for an 18-under-par total of 276 and a six-stroke victory margin in the inaugural Scottish Challenge, the first Challenge Tour event to be played in Scotland for 12 years.

But the low-scoring honours of the day were claimed once again by 23-year-old Aberdonian Richie Ramsay. He set the course record of 63 in Friday's second round  and, astonishingly, the Walker Cup man brought the mark down a peg to nine-under-par 62 in the final round.

Ramsay, with a total of nine-under-par 275, finished in fourth place overall behind Walker, runner-up West-Linton based Gareth Wright and Chris Doak from the Tartan Tour.

Had he not been an amateur, Richie, who plays his club golf on the neighbouring Royal Aberdeen links at Balgownie, would have earned £8,293.

"My mental prepartion was good. I had a talked with SGU coach Ian Rae before I went out and that helped to set me in the mood after I had a 73 in the third round," said Richie. "I'm playing at Loch Lomond this week and this has given me a lot of confidence.

"My short game came together in this tournament. I've been hitting the ball solidly for some time but not scoring. When the short game clicked, I've got the low scores. I holed a lot of putts out there."

Ramsay, who received a silver quaich to mark his leading amateur performance, is not letting success in amateur golf go to his head.

"I am going to complete my degree in sports marketing at Stirling University by the end of the year. Getting that degree is as important to me as anything in golf, " he said, seeming to indicate that he would spend another year in the amateur ranks before tackling the European Tour Qualifying School.

"I would love to play in next year's Walker Cup. I've got my plans but I don't want to talk about them."

When Ramsay finished at 2.10pm he was the leader in the clubhouse by nine shots.

Gareth Wright, the London-born Welshman who still lives at West Linton where he was brought up, picked up the biggest cheque (£15,204) of his rookie pro career. He signed off with a 67 for 12-under-par 272 and second place.

"I stayed patient and enjoyed myself over the four days. That was my secret. I've been too hard on myself since I turned pro. I've been trying too hard. This was a different approach and it paid off," said Gareth.

Chris Doak, who had shared the old course record of 63 with Ramsay for 48 hours, came back to form in time to score a 67 in the final round to finish third on 11 under par 273 He won £9,675.

"I played very well. My putting was good again. When I putted well, I scored well at Murcar Links."

FINAL TOTALS

266 S Walker (Eng) 68 69 64 65.

272 G Wright (Wal) 68 66 71 67.

273 C Doak (Sco) 70 63 73 67.

275 R Ramsay (am) (Sco) 77 63 73 62.

276 G Paddison (NZ) 67 71 67 71.

277 S Henderson (Sco) 68 66 72 71, A Noren (Swe) 72 64 70 71.

278 M Pilkington (Wal) 71 66 74 67, C Gillies (Sco) 71 64 75 68, A S Hansen (Den) 67 67 74 70, D Drysdale (Sco) 70 67 71 70.

280 E Ramsay (Sco) 69 68 73 70, M Ilonen (Fin) 68 70 72 70.

281 L Claverie (Spa) 70 66 74 71, B Hafthorsson (Ice) 71 69 70 71, F Hed Andersson (Swe) 68 72 69 72, J McLeary (Sco) 68 65 74 74.

282 A McArthur (Sco) 71 71 70 70,  S Bebb (Wal) 68 69 78 67, C De Corral (Spa) 74 67 71 70, M Urquhart (Sco) 67 68 75 72, S Manley (Wal) 67 70 77 68.

283 M Persson (Swe) 75 67 70 71, O Bergmann (Swe) 70 66 75 72, B Mason (Eng) 70 70 70 73, A Velasco (Spa) 68 67 74 74.

284 G Acosta (Arg) 73 66 73 72,  P Linhart (Spa) 74 66 76 68, D Orr (Sco) 73 67 74 70, D De Vooght (Bel) 71 70 71 72.

285 M Quiros (Spa) 72 70 73 70.

286 M Higley (Eng) 70 67 80 69, C Kelly (Sco) 70 70 77 69, I Van Weerelt (Net) 71 69 77 69, G Rojas (Arg) 71 71 75 69, D Borrego (Spa) 69 70 75 72, P Whiteford (Sco) 68 71 74 73, K Eriksson (Swe) 65 72 75 74, K Staunton (Eng) 70 67 73 76, D P Jones (Ire) 72 67 78 69.

287 N Cheetham (Eng) 69 70 78 70, G Murray (am) (Sco) 74 68 74 71, R Echenique (Arg) 71 71 74 71, G Fox (Sco) 73 66 76 72, C Reimbold (Ger) 75 67 73 72, L Bond (Wal) 70 66 78 73, G Hutcheon (Sco) 69 73 72 73, K L Jorgensen (Den) 70 72 72 73, M Crespi (Ita) 70 67 76 74.

288 J-P Gonnet (Fra) 75 67 77 69, A Quiros (Spa) 68 69 81 70, H Rey (Arg) 71 71 76 70, R Cabrera Bello (Spa) 67 69 79 73, B Coathalem (Fra) 77 65 71 75.

289 S Hurd (Eng) 69 72 77 71, D Lucas (Eng) 73 65 79 72, E Thomson (Sco) 74 67 76 72, G Davies (Eng) 71 71 73 74.

290 R Gonzalez (Arg) 72 69 77 72, M King (Eng) 69 73 76 72, M Soffietti (Ia) 71 69 75 75, M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 69 73 76, J Benedetti (Col) 71 70 73 76, D Robertson (Sco) 72 67 72 79, O David (Fra) 71 70 73 76.

291 N Vanhootegem (Bel) 71 70 77 73, L Brovold (Nor) 68 69 78 76.

292 D Mooney (NIr) 74 68 78 72, C Ronald (Sco) 69 73 76 74, Z Scotland (Eng) 72 69 76 75, J H Williams (Wal) 73 68 75 76.

294 D Inglis (Sco) 71 67 72 84.

295 M Loftus (Sco) 73 64 80 78.

Disq - N Walker (Eng) 70 69 81 -

Withdrew – G Lockerbie (Eng) 74 65 84.