Ben Kinsley needs to go at least one stage past his best in the Scottish Boys Championship to end St Andrews’ long wait for a champion, but he started in excellent fashion at West Kilbride.
Four years on at the venue where he made his boys’ championship debut, the twice semi-finalist motored through the opening tie of his last attempt at the title although Ross Callan, son of Bathgate pro Stuart, gave him a late fright.
Ben, however, stayed on course in his attempt to be the first player from St Andrews to win the blue riband junior title since Lachlan Carver in 1960, a gap made somewhat more acute with Ben’s friend and fellow St Andrian, Ewan Scott, being the beaten finalist in each of the last two years.
Kinsley certainly has the right DNA to be a success, being a direct descendant of 1893 Open champion Willie Auchterlonie, the last born, bred and domiciled Scot to win the Claret Jug before Paul Lawrie’s famous victory in 1999.
Lawrie was at West Kilbride on Tuesday watching younger son Michael playing in the match directly behind, and if the former Open champ looked ahead, he had to be impressed with Kinsley’s play in going to seven-up with seven to play three-under in establishing that lead in conditions that verged from sunny calm through to black clouds and stair-rod rain.
However, Callan had a sting in the tail with three fighting birdies to keep the match alive, Ben being just a little forthright on the 14th green with an eight-foot putt that would have closed the match.
“That concentrated the mind and had me thinking ‘what’s going on here’ but I figured it was good to get a look at those holes fairly early on,” said Kinsleyphilosophically after he halved the 15th to finally put Callan away 4&3.
A semi-finalist in Dunbar in 2011 at 16 the same year he won the Scottish under-16 title he also reached the last four and lost to Scott at Monfieth last year.
His other two attempts at the championship have both ended in the third round, so he’s reached at least Wednesday at the Boys’ on all four times he’s played.
“Obviously the aim is to go at least one better this year,” he said, feeling the benefit of being in both training camps in the Gulf and South Africa this winter.
“The first trip was just fine-tuning and honing the game in perfect weather conditions, but South Africa was great to get some really competitive golf in for the early part of the season,” he added.
“Hopefully I can stay in the senior training groups and get that experience again.
“I’ve decided to stay here, play amateur golf full-time for the next few years and take advantage of those opportunities rather than go to college in the States.”
Kinsley could meet Michael Lawrie, who has whittled his handicap from five to two for this year’s championship, if they both come through second round matches today, with the 16-year-old coming through 4&3 over Turnhouse’s Craig Docherty.
With dad and mum Marian watching, he was three-up at the turn and didn’t relinquish control after that, and now moves on to meet another Lothians player in Cameron Blair.
“I was never behind, and played pretty well,” he said, admitting that he feels the burden of expectation of his famous father a little, although there are also obvious benefits, not least in preparation.
The Lawries tuned up at Monday at Loch Lomond and there’s also the state-of-the-art practice putting green in the back garden at home in Aberdeen, tended lovingly by grandad Bert.
“Since we got the green iron, we can make it any pace we like and it’s a really good facility for practice,” explained Paul, who is hors de combat with a bad neck right now.
No seeds have fallen as yet at West Kilbride, with top seed Ewen Ferguson blazing through to the third round in late play.