Jonathan Caldwell continued his fine run of form with a comfortable 4&3 victory in the first round of the British Amateur championship today.
Caldwell, seeded second after impressing during qualifying earlier in the week, opened an early lead over Alexander Culverwell and closed out the match to reach the last 32 at Turnberry.
Caldwell will be joined in tomorrow's second round by Lurgan's Gareth Shaw, another 4&3 winner, but Niall Kearney and Andrew Hogan bowed out on the Ayrshire coast.
Caldwell, Shaw and Kearney, meanwhile, have all been named on the Irish side that will defend their European Amateur Team Championship title in Turin next month.
They will be joined by Shane Lowry, a member of last year's winning side, along with Paul Cutler and recently crowned Irish champion Paul O'Hanlon.
Ireland team: Jonathan Caldwell (Clandeboye), Paul Cutler (Portstewart), Niall Kearney (Royal Dublin), Shane Lowry (Esker Hills), Paul O'Hanlon (Curragh) and Gareth Shaw (Lurgan).
British Amateur First round results: T Bordeaux (USA) bt S Hutsby (Liphook) 3 & 2, J Barnes (Chart Hills) bt D Antonelli (Fra) 4 & 2, R Saxton (Ned) bt Z Gould (Vale of Glamorgan) 4 & 2, T Prowse (Aus) bt F Colombo (Ita) 3 & 1, S Arnold (Aus) bt B Hebert (Fra) 3 & 1, D Whitnell (Five Lakes) bt D Corsby (Royal Lytham & St Annes) 2 & 1, P Figueiredo (Por) bt L Kirton (Newmachar) 2 & 1, J Abbott (Fynn Valley) bt E Richardson (Rye) 2 holes, C Macaulay (Tulliallan) bt N Henderson (The Glen) 4 & 3, J Carroll (Huyton & Prescot) bt L Renolds (Can) 3 & 2, J Frazer (Pennard) bt N Kearney (Royal Dublin) at the 19th, I Elvira (Spa) bt A Hogan (Newlands) 2 & 1, K McAlpine (Alyth) bt J Kim (Ita) 3 & 1, D Markle (Can) bt A John (Ger) 2 & 1, J Vickery (Newport) bt M Glauert (Ger) 1 hole, B Westgate (Trevose) bt N Bertasio (Ita) 3 & 1, A Sullivan (Nuneaton) bt A Mitchell (USA) 4 & 3, N Edwards (Whitchurch) bt M Thistleton (Hayling) 4 & 3, M Kieffer (Ger) bt D Coupland (Boston) 2 & 1, B Rankin (USA) bt J Gill (Nzl) 2 & 1, S McEwan (Caprington) bt M Nixon (Ashton-under-Lyne) 3 & 2, J Amos (Kilworth Springs) bt J Stalter (Fra) 1 hole, R Gibson (Aus) bt J Blixt (Swe) 1 hole, A Pavan (Ita) bt D Ferreira (RSA) 2 & 1, J Campillo (Spa) bt S Uzzell (Hornsea) 1 hole, G Shaw (Lurgan) bt J Blaauw (RSA) 4 & 3, C Paisley (Stocksfield) bt F Keenan (Sunningdale) 1 hole, C Wood (Long Ashton) bt T Stewart (Aus) 3 & 2, J Guillet (Fra) w/o M Cryer (Coventry), T Fleetwood (Formby) bt J Van De Vaart (Ned) 3 & 1, F De Vries (Ned) bt C Ford (Kirby Muxloe) 1 hole, J Caldwell (Clandeboye) bt A Culverwell (Dunbar) 4 & 3
