Scotland's men, boys and girls all qualified for the matchplay championship flight competitions at their respective European Team Championships yesterday, but the women missed out.
The boys, led by captain Scott Knowles and coach Neil Marr – and playing on home soil at Murcar Links – posted an 11-over-par total for their 36 holes of individual strokeplay to qualify in third place, three shots behind a resurgent England and six behind Italy.
Meanwhile, at the demanding Silkeborg layout in Denmark, the men's team, coached by Ian Rae, finished fifth, recording a 24-over-par total for their 36 holes to set up a quarter-final against Germany. France led the qualifiers on 15 over, followed by Ireland and England.
The second qualifying round of the girls' competition, at Linkopings in Sweden, was cancelled because of flooding and the qualifiers were decided on first-round scores. The Scots scraped in as eighth best and today they will face leading qualifiers Spain.
On another calm day at Murcar, the scoring was exceptional from a number of Europe's finest players at Under-18 level. England's Adam Chapman and Glencruitten's Robert MacIntyre, the Scottish Youths' champion, posted four-under-par 67s, before the in-form Connor Syme, of Dumfries & County, fired a 66. The Scottish Schools winner reeled off a bogey-free round featuring five birdies, one with a 35-foot putt at the 12th.
Like Syme, MacIntyre restricted his use of a driver on the fast-running fairways and the strategy appears to be paying off. "I've only used four woods a round," said MacIntyre, who has excelled this season after 12 weeks out at the start of the year with an elbow injury.
"If you're not in the fairway it's tough to score. Our initial goal was the top eight, so let's see what we can do in the matchplay now. We're confident."
Late in the day, England stormed through to finish second, with Kenwick Park's Ashton Turner firing a best-of-the-week 64, just two shots off the amateur record set by Richie Ramsay at the Challenge Tour event in 2006.
"Our second-day total was 16 shots better than day one," said Turner. "All of us have more experience of the course now and we just took more chances. The English men have won a lot of events this year and we all look up to them."
Over in Denmark, James Ross of Royal Burgess was the star man for the Scottish men, following up his opening day 72 with a 71. Graeme Robertson's 74, despite a double bogey at the last, and Ewan Scott's 75 were also key counting scores yesterday.
Scotland's women could finish only 10th at Fulford GC in Yorkshire and go into the Second Flight with Ireland, Wales and Belgium among others. Aberdeen-born Gemma Dryburgh was easily the best on a disappointing second day as she followed up her opening 73 with a par 72. Eilidh Briggs slipped back from a 71 to a 75, while Rachael Watton took six more shots in a 78.
Alyson McKechin, the Scottish champion, could do no better than a 79 and Ailsa Summers returned an 81. Jess Meek, who had an 84 on Tuesday, improved to a 76.
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