British Amateur Championship: With a superb, one-under-par 70, Ballyclare's Gareth Maybin was the clubhouse leader until late in the day in yesterday's first round at Royal Troon in the British Amateur Championship 36-hole qualifier, only for Scotland's David Inglis to hand in an incredible, bogey-free five-under-par 66 in the worst of the weather right at the end of the field.
Fighting a stiff southerly breeze all the way to the turn, Maybin had parred his way to the 558-yard fourth, where he rolled in a 15 footer for birdie.
He saved par at the sixth after driving into deep rough, reached the turn in level par 36, and then proceeded to make three birdies coming in, culminating with a superb, 25-foot chip-in at the last.
Maybin was understandably upbeat over his performance. "Hopefully my score will stay up there at the top and I can do the same tomorrow at Irvine, but you never know what the weather can throw at you. It could be gale force tomorrow," he said referring to his second round at the shorter Irvine course.
The 288-man field play one round over each course, with the top 64 going forward to the first round of matchplay at Troon.
Galway's Andrew Lynch fired a two-under-par 69 at Irvine, the same score as Athlone's Colm Moriarty returned late in the day, leaving them two off the pace.
