John Paterson, schooled in golf at least in the home of the game, stands in the way of Michael Lawrie this morning at the Scottish Boys Championship at Murcar Links.
The 16-year-old Stirlingshire schoolboy who plays all his golf in Fife and St Andrews will meet the son of the 1999 Open champion Paul in the last eight with Saturday’s 36-hole final looming large and top seed Sandy Scott – along with all the other seven seeded players – out of the championship.
Paterson, who represents the New Club of St Andrews, yesterday outlasted Patrick Lawrence in the fourth round to win on the final green and then blitzed past Matthew Watson, one of the English-based competitors, in impressive fashion.
The quarter-finals were always the target for John, but he expected a different opponent.
“The aim was to be playing (first seed) Sandy Scott in the last eight, but that’s matchplay for you,” he said. “My first aim was to get through the seed in my part of the draw and I did that, now it’s just one game at a time.
“This afternoon I was just solid, keeping the ball in play in that wind and making pars, trying to keep the pressure on Matthew, and it seemed to work pretty well.”
The Fife County Junior Order of Merit winner last year lives in Stirlingshire, but a family house in St Andrews means that’s where he plays all his golf.
“There’s no better place, the practice facilities are world class and the resident’s pass means I can play all the courses,” he said.
“Usually it’s the Jubilee or the New because the Old Course usually takes five hours with the tourists playing but you can go out on summer nights and play a loop there.”
Still his clubs will go in the cupboard immediately after this championship and his intention is to choose a university to follow his choice of engineering rather than golf.
“The ideal would be a college that balanced golf with academics,” he said. “But the studies come first and that’ll be my first priority when choosing where to go.”
Lawrie had reached the quarter-finals for the second year in a row, his path eased when Royal Aberdeen’s Fintan McKenna defeated top seed Scott on the final green yesterday morning.
McKenna, who works at the coffee shop in the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre on the south bank of the Dee, took a one-up lead through six holes in the fifth round meeting with Michael, but a surge from the scratch younger son of the Ryder Cup player in three-under figures around the turn particularly impressive in yesterday’s strong winds – proved decisive.
“I probably played my best golf of the week so far in that stretch,” said the 17-year-old. “I’ve played a lot with Fintan and knew he was well capable of beating Sandy this morning.
Michael’s made the very most of his escape in the first round, when he was one down playing the last and birdied the 18th and 19th to defeat Thomas Boyd.
“Anything past that first round is a bonus, really,” he said. “It could have been my week was over, but instead I pulled it back and I’m still here.”
Scott’s departure in the morning prompted a full scale cull of the remaining seeds in the afternoon, with No 2 Rory Franssen, No 3 Jamie Stewart and 5th seed Calum Bruce all falling at the last 16 stage.
Franssen tumbled out to Dylan Burt of Bellshill, Stewart to Eric McIntosh (Bruntsfield Links) and Bruce to Lewis Irvine (Kirkhill).
Longniddry’s Cameron Gallacher, just 14 and off a five handicap, is a surprise quarter-finalist after beating Chris Finnie (Lockerbie) in the last 16.