Nairn’s Andrew Burgess and George Duncan of Windyhill handed Scottish amateur golf’s embattled selection process another huge headache as they won through to contest today’s Scottish Amateur Championship final at Royal Aberdeen.
The 21-year-old student Burgess was balloted out of the strokeplay version of the Scottish championship in June because his plus 1.5 handicap was too high, but he must be favourite to win the matchplay version at Balgownie after a fabulous semi-final contest with Drumoig’s Connor Syme, the championship favourite.
The winner had figures of 66 to Syme’s 67 with 13 birdies shared between them, the last of them Burgess’ brilliant three on the last to finally separate the pair.
With Duncan’s victory over Alasdair McDougall on the second extra hole of the other semi-final, it means the Scottish final is between two unranked players on Scottish Golf’s own order of merit, now the determining factor for selection for the Home Internationals squad.
The selectors have two slots open for the top performers in the national championship, but neither of the finalists seem to meet the stated criteria which also saw Ailsa Summers, who won the Scottish Ladies’ championship this year but remained outside the women’s order of merit qualification spots, controversially left out of next week’s Women’s Home International team.
The men’s Homes in two weeks are on Burgess’ home course of Nairn West – where he is also club champion – but although he’s “very aware” of that he isn’t focusing on it.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played a game of golf quite like that,” he said after the semi-final. “It was some kind of game and I’m just grateful to have been able to come out ahead at the end.”
Burgess couldn’t even get into the Scottish Strokeplay at Gullane, taking advantage of his brother Sean and Scottish international Sandy Scott’s absence at that event to win the Nairn club title.
“It’s not a complete surprise to me,” said the student at Armstrong State University in Savannah, Georgia. “I’ve been hitting the ball well all year and if the putter got in order than I thought I had a chance.
“But I haven’t played as well as that in a long time, and it’s fantastic to reach the final.”
Syme, ranked 30th in the world, hadn’t trailed all week and although pushed to the final green by international foursomes partner Craig Howie in the quarter-final, he looked an overwhelming favourite after rival and defending champion Robert MacIntyre was ousted in the last eight.
However every time he made a birdie Burgess replied, the Fifer’s biggest lead of two-up after seven erased when Burgess birdied the next two.
Syme went behind for the first time in the entire week with Burgess’ fifth birdie of the match at the 13th, but a couple of wayward drives and Syme’s 35-foot birdie putt at 15 had the GB&I man ahead again.
However a three-putt from distance at 16 got Burgess back square and then both players missed birdie chances at 17, Syme seeing his five foot putt curl out of the hole in a crucial miss.
He followed that with a bit of rotten luck – his two-iron tee shot at the last shouldn’t have reached the fairway bunker 280 yards away, but took a kick off a downslope and trickled into the sand. He bravely recovered for his four but Burgess rolled in a six-footer for the winning birdie.
“I hit that same two-iron this morning and it was nowhere near,” said Syme. “But you have to credit Andrew, he played really well and to birdie the last in that situation was clutch.
“I had my chances but it wasn’t to be and I hope he goes on to win the final.”
The other semi-finalist is even more a shock but even to himself, with Duncan, also 21, admitting he had ridden his luck at times this week to reach today’s 36 hole final.
That was even maybe true of the second extra hole in the semi against McDougall, a match with not quite the quality golf of the first game, with the Elderslie man, conqueror of MacIntyre, finishing bogey-bogey to send the match to extra holes.
Duncan sent his drive well left and McDougall pulled a two-iron as a tactical response, but the Windyhill man found his ball on a clear lie on a cut cart path, made the green in three and got his par five as McDougall was on the front edge in three and three-putted.
“To be honest I was just glad to get through the second round so to reach the final is well beyond what I thought I would do,” said Duncan, who attends Lincoln Memorial College in Tennessee.
“I’ll just go out and enjoy the game as I’ve done all this week and see if I can ride my luck just a little further.”
Quarter-finals: A Burgess (Nairn) bt J Wright (Forres) 2 and 1; C Syme (Drumoig) bt C Howie (Peebles) 2 holes; A McDougall (Elderslie) bt R MacIntyre (Glencruitten) 4 and 3; G Duncan (Windyhill) bt M Pennycott (Royal Burgess).
Semi-finals: Burgess bt Syme 1 hole; Duncan bt McDougall at the 20th.
Final, 36 holes, 8.30 am and 1pm: Burgess vs Duncan
