Josh Jamieson takes his short game tips from Luke Donald back in Chicago, but he’ll need all of the Englishman’s wizardry to upset Bradley Neil in the Fairstone Scottish Amateur Championship at Downfield.
The 20-year-old from St Andrews is used to having the Ryder Cup star to watch at practice sessions at Northwestern University in the Windy City, but he now faces Neil, who is intent on adding the Scottish title to his amateur championship win.
Bradley came from behind to win the clash with club-mate Glenn Campbell and was seven-under in the afternoon to beat Fraser Davren.
Barry Hume, the 2001 Scottish champion at Downfield, is still well in the mix with a remarkable performance to reach the last eight 13 years on.
Jamieson, meanwhile, is one of several in the last eight who have slipped under the radar this season, partly because of Neil’s successes, but also by being based in the US, where he attends Donald’s former college and works with Pat Goss, the Englishman’s long-time coach.
“Luke lives only 20 minutes away and still takes an active part, using the practice facilities a lot and obviously coming to see Pat,” he said.
“He’s very approachable, but honestly all you have to do is watch him practice his short game and the effort he puts in, it certainly rubs off on you.”
Jamieson admits he had trouble settling in at Chicago, but is now happy with his lot and his improvement technically and mentally, working with Goss and his assistant, the former Walker Cup player from Edinburgh David Inglis.
“David was fantastic in helping me settle in and now I love it there,” he continued.
“The results haven’t been what I’d like, but I’m happy with my game now and looking forward to the next two years.”
Yesterday Jamieson cruised past Kenny McCaskill and then had a tight battle with Kyle McClung, the key being that he didn’t have a single bogey on his card, and now he’s through to meet Neil.
“Brad and I were in the same training group as juniors for years, so it’s been great to see what a year he’s had,” continued Josh.
“I’m looking forward to playing with him again.”
Neil was two down at the turn to Campbell but won 10 and 11 to square the match and eventually forced a narrow victory.
He was rarely in trouble against Fraser Davren in the afternoon and was six-under for the last five holes played.
“It’s my first tournament back in Scotland since the Amateur, and obviously there’s been a bit of attention, we had people watching the practice round,” he said.
“But I thought it was kind of weird to be first seed since I’d played in this only last year and got knocked out early.
“So I’ve not thought about the expectation and it’s been great to get back into the competitive arena again after having had a short break.”
Hume’s run to the quarters has been hugely impressive, and his defeat of the highly-rated teenager Connor Syme in Thursday’s last 16 was his best performance of the week.
“I’ve actually been quite nervous in the early rounds,” he admitted.
“I don’t know any of these guys and they don’t know me, but now we’re at the point where everybody you meet is a great player, and it means you’ve got to be at your best.”
His strategy had been not to give Syme any encouragement, and he made the most of a bit of luck, including hitting the flag with a greenside bunker shot at the eighth and getting down for his par to go two-up, eventually winning 4 and 3.
“It’s small margins all the time, I could easily be behind, but I’m able to dig down and use my experiences here in the past to help,” he continued.
“Today was as good as it could be, like it was 13 years ago. I think it would be a big shock to everyone if I were to win.
“It’s not in my thoughts, I just know I have to put in a performance because this is the business end of the biggest tournament we have and you have to give it your best effort.”
Hume will now take on Euan Walker from Barassie and Jack McDonald is the other member of that club in the last eight, taking on Meldrum House’s Chris Robb.
The 6ft 4in 23-year-old from Banchory has been outstanding this week, pushed only once past the 15th green, and may be a real danger on the kind of parkland course he prefers.
The fourth quarter-final is the only one where the seeding has worked out Neil and McDonald are the other surviving seeded players as Graeme Robertson takes on 2012 champion Grant Forrest.
Forrest had a first career albatross yesterday in the fourth round, holing a 203-yard six-iron on the 14th in beating Lanark’s Jamie Lamb.
In the afternoon Forrest met Craig Ross, who beat him when Forrest was defending his Scottish Boys’ title at Dunbar in 2011, but in a frenzy of scoring the St Andrews Links champion came through.
Ross was seven-under for his last 11 holes, but Forrest was eight-under.
They shared 11 birdies and two eagles over that stretch before Forrest emerged the 2 and 1 winner.