Now that’s what you call an enticing menu. The golf writers already had two course records to chew over even before we’d sat down for that lunchtime golfing delicacy of mince and poached eggs in the Western Gailes clubhouse. At least we’d spoken to the players in question before we slootered yolk down our fronts.
On a beautiful day on the Ayrshire coast, Glasgow’s Calum Fyfe and Englishman Alister Balcombe made hay while that smouldering sphere in the sky shone and zipped round the glorious links with seven-under 64s as they set a brisk early pace in the Carrick Neil Scottish Open Championship. These shimmering efforts, aided by receptive greens which had been softened up by some heavy overnight rain, shaved a shot off the previous record low of 65 held by the Ryder Cup stalwart Bernard Gallacher and former Walker Cup player Jonathan Caldwell.
Fyfe, a former Scottish boys’ No 1, reeled off seven birdies in a neatly assembled round although his putt of some 25-feet to save par on the second was just as important for momentum as his haul of profitable gains. “After a birdie on the first I needed that just to keep things going,” said the Cawder member whose appearances on the wider amateur front have been limited this season due to funding issues. “It’s nice having an event on my doorstep.”
Balcombe, a 21-year-old from the Clevedon club in Somerset, came charging home in 29 as his six-under inward half propelled him to the front. His back-nine blitz was illuminated by a raking 6-iron from 200 yards on the 12th which rattled the flag and dropped to within five-feet of the hole.
With his mother, Jean, on trolley-pulling duties, this was very much a family affair for Balcombe. It was also something of a homecoming for his mum. “She was born in Largs and knows this coastline very well,” added US college student Balcombe, whose career high so far has been an appearance in the Open Championship at St Andrews in 2015. “I think I’ll hire her again for the rest of the weekend.”
Connor Syme, one of Scotland’s emerging talents, got the fast start he was looking for with a tidy, bogey-free 66 which left him sitting alongside Dorset teenager Thomas Plumb. Syme has rarely been out of the top-10 in events this season, a statistic which speaks volumes for his powers of recovery. “I was 90th after round one of the Brabazon Trophy and eventually finished tied eighth and I was about 60th after the opening day of the Irish Open and finished seventh,” he reported. “I’ve been shooting myself in the foot a bit with some of my starts so this was a nice change.”
The young ‘uns may dominate the leaderboard but credit has to go to the well-kent local veteran Paul McKellar, the winner of this title at Muirfield 40 years ago, who posted a spirited 72.
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