One has held his nerve to win a play-off for the Open and the other has captained Celtic to various footballing conquests but stick Paul Lawrie and Tom Boyd on a golf course watching their sons do battle in the Scottish Boys Championship and you almost expected them to nip into the halfway house at Murcar and order some Valium.

“Watching Thomas playing golf is more nerve-wracking than playing in front of 60,000 at Celtic Park,” said Boyd senior with a smile after his son, Thomas, was edged out at the 19th hole by Michael Lawrie.

It had been an intriguing, keenly fought tussle on a dreich day in the Granite City and Boyd, a four-handicapper at Bothwell Castle, almost claimed a notable scalp as he moved into a one hole lead through 17 holes after Lawrie, a quarter-finalist a year ago, stumbled to a brace of bogeys at 15 and 16.

The young Aberdonian showed his fighting spirit, though, and dinked a super wedge to within three-feet on the last for a birdie which squared the tie before plonking another fine approach to six-feet on the first extra-hole to clinch a hard-earned win.

“Having reached the quarter-finals last year, I’d love to do better here and this was a tough match to get through,” said 17-year-old Lawrie, who will embark on his PGA training later this season as he looks to follow his famous faither into the professional ranks.

Boyd, who was on the books with Hamilton Academical before switching his attention to a different ball game, certainly enjoyed his first appearance in a national championship. “It’s not often you get a former Open champion watching you,” he said.

That particular Open champion is used to peering on nervously from the sidelines. “But it doesn’t get any easier and I went through all this with my older son, Craig, in this event,” added Lawrie.

In the other early encounters, Nairn’s Sandy Scott, the No 1 seed, eased to a 2&1 win over Greg Cessford but Ross Callan, runner-up in last year’s final, fell at the first hurdle.