Adam Fahey produced a dominant display to book his place in the final 32 of the R&A Boys’ Amateur Championship at Glasgow Gailes with a round of 64 win, but it was late heartbreak for the other three who made the matchplay stages.
Fahey, taking on Mikulas Vojtesek of the Czech Republic for the second year running, was dominant throughout and ran out a 6&4 winner to set up a round of 32 tie with 16-year-old Icelandic Oliver Eli Bjornsson.
The Portmarnock youth is looking to go at least one better than last year at County Louth where he produced a similarly impressive performance to breeze through the first knockout stage but then fell to Vojtesek in the round of 32 so gained revenge in style this year.
But while Fahey didn’t have to go beyond the 14th, his three fellow countrymen all went the distance and both Harry O’Hara and John William Burke went beyond.
Clandeboye’s O’Hara was the highest seeded of the four that made the knockout stages having finished tied for sixth and the eighth seed. His match against Ludwig Libera of Sweden went all the way to the 21st before the Swede finally got the better of his Irish opponent.
Burke of Ballyhaunis lost to Qatar’s Daniil Sokolov on the 19th, while Isaac Oliver of Glasson fell to England’s Ben Sessions with the 18-year-old Essex man winning 1UP on the last.
In the opening contest of the last 64, Cole Self shrugged off the pressure that comes with being the No 1 seed and battled to a 3&2 win over Germany’s David Suentzenich.
“I didn’t play that well for the first nine holes to be fair and nobody could get a grip of the match,” admitted Self. “But I stayed patient and the birdies eventually arrived. All of a sudden, I was three-up. “Being the No 1 seed was in the back of my mind to be honest when I teed-off. I felt there were a few eyes on me but now that I’ve got through the first match it feels like those eyes are off me now.”
Stepan Plasek of the Czech Republic, the highest-ranked player in the field, was an early casualty as he lost 4&3 to Spain’s Javier Domingo Calvo.
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