Championships

Girls’ and Boys’ Amateurs tee off in Angus

The R&A

08 Aug 22

3 mins

Spain’s Paula Martin Sampedro from Spain has set the early pace in the Girls’ Amateur Championship, with August Petersson from Sweden and England’s Reis Suart out in front in the Boys’ Amateur Championship.

History is being made in Angus with leading under-18 players from across the world gathering for the two championships, proudly supported by EventScotland. For the first time, the match play stages of the R&A Girls’ and Boys’ Amateur will be played simultaneously at one venue when they are held over the famed links of Carnoustie later in the week. In another notable first, the 36-hole finals of both championships on Sunday will be live streamed by The R&A at last year’s venue for the AIG Women’s Open. Today saw stroke play qualifying in the Boys’ Amateur at Panmure and Monifieth before the knock-out stages move to Carnoustie, with the Girls’ Amateur contested at Carnoustie all week.

England's Reis Suart (pictured) impressed on day one at Monifieth with five birdies in-a-row helping him to a five-under-par 66 alongside August Petersson at the top of the leaderboard.

The Boys’ Amateur

Monifieth’s par-71 lay-out provided an opportunity for the best scoring of the day in the Boys’ Amateur – with the top seven players all signing for scores there. In total, 252 boys representing 22 countries are competing over two rounds of stroke play qualifying, with the top 64 progressing to match play. Petersson and Suart both shone with excellent rounds of five-under-par 66 to share the lead after day one. Wales’ Joe Jones is a stroke further back with Jack Lee from England on three-under. The R&A Junior Open champion, Scotland’s Connor Graham, is well-placed after an opening two-under 69 at Monifieth too. With par-70 Panmure playing tougher, the best two scores from there were posted by Englishman Jake Plumb and Jorge Siyuan Hao from Spain after two-under efforts of 68. Hao was recently announced in the Continent of Europe team to contest the forthcoming Jacques Leglise Trophy at Blairgowrie.

The Girls’ Amateur

The Girls’ Amateur, staged at an Open venue for the first time, sees a field of 144 players representing 22 countries with the top 64 players also qualifying for the match play stages. Over Carnoustie’s testing lay-out, Martin Sampedro – placed 82nd on the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®) – produced a brilliant two-under 69 including an eagle at the 14th. Maggie Whitehead, former winner of the England Under-16s, also returned to form with a superb 70 to sit in second spot. Impressively for under-18 level, seven players from the top 100 on the WAGR® are in the field, including top-ranked Meja Ortengren (22) from Sweden but she struggled to a 77. Italian Francesca Fiorellini, the second highest ranked player, sits tied fourth after a 72. The finals on Sunday can be watched on The R&A’s website at www.randa.org as well as on The R&A YouTube channel. The commentary team will include Simon Holmes, Beth Allen and Sophie Walker along with onsite presenter George Harper Jnr. View leaderboards HERE