The British Amateur Championship
Report: 2nd Day of Knockout
At Royal Liverpool GC
Colin Callander, Special Correspondent

Walker Cup international, David Patrick, was one of two Scots to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2000 Amateur Championship at the Royal Liverpool club at Hoylake yesterday.

In bright, but breezy conditions, Patrick, 25, from Mortonhall, defeated English international, Colin Edwards, 2 &1 in the third round and the English Mid-Amateur champion, Stephen East, by one hole in the fourth round, to progress into the last eight. There, he will be joined by the unheralded Stuart Wilson, 22, from Forfar, who rounded up a great day with an impressive 2 & 1 victory over Frenchman, Bruno-Teva Lecuona.

Also in the draw is a young Englishman who sounds as if he should have been born north of the border, Zane Scotland, 18, from Woodcote Park, beating another Scot, the 1997 Amateur champion, Craig Watson by one hole

The much-fancied Australian, Andrew Webster, and the equally heralded Finn, Mikko Ilonen both proceed in some style but arguably the performance of the day came from unknown Englishman, David Ryles, from the West Hill club in Surrey.

Ryles, 20, who is in his second year at Charleston Southern University in North Carolina, defeated the Australian Amateur champion, Brad Lamb, by 7 & 6 in the morning and then capitalised on that unexpected triumph when he defeated English international, John Morgan, from Clevedon, at the 19th in the afternoon.

�It�s been an incredible day for me,� said Ryles, who is making his debut in the Championship. �I said to a friend this morning that I�d keep hitting shots until someone told me to stop. That�s what I did. I still can�t believe it has happened.�

The Surrey man�s fourth round victory couldn�t have been more dramatic. After driving into the rough down the 18th, he hit a 6-iron to 30-feet and then holed the resultant left to right putt to take the match into extra time. Down the 19th, he also leaked his tee shot to the right, but hit a 7-iron 200 yards to within 20-feet of the hole and then won the match when his opponent, Morgan, failed to get up and down from the left edge of the green.

�Those two irons were two of the best shots I�ve ever hit and the putt on the 18th was unbelievable,� Ryles said. �I knew I had to hole it but, still, it�s not the sort of thing you expect to do, especially under those circumstances.�

The morning�s third round saw the demise of Rick Woulfe, the last American left in this year�s field. Woulfe, 50, an attorney from Ft. Lauderdale, who won the 1993 Dixie Amateur Championship, beating Tiger Woods in the semi-finals, succumbed to English Mid-Amateur champion, Stephen East, 41, a golf accessories supplier, 3 & 2

East�s putting was what decided the contest. �Stephen putted great out there today,� the gracious Woulfe commented at the end of the game. �He made five putts of about 20-foot in-a-row from the 7th. I played pretty well but I couldn�t live with that.�

4th Round Scores
D. Ryles (West Hill) bt B. Lamb (Aus) 7 & 6
J. Morgan (Clevedon) bt P. McKechnie (Hayston) 5 & 4
S. East (Moortown) bt R. Woulfe (USA) 3 & 2
D. Patrick (Mortonhall) bt C. Edwards (Bath) 2 & 1
M. Hoey (Shandon Park) bt J. Donaldson (Macclesfield) 7 & 6
C. Reimbold (Ger) bt J. King (Cardross) 1 hole
G. van der Valk (Hol) bt K. Sullivan (Brynhill) 5 & 3
G. Davies (Abbeydale) bt D. Henley (Stoneham) 2 & 1
B-T Lecuona (Fr) bt T. Schuster (Ger) at 19th
S. Wilson (Forfar) bt E. Forbes (Turriff) at 19th
G. Fox (East Kilbride) by R. Ballesteros (Sp) 3 & 2
A. Webster (Aus) bt S. Boschmans (Bel) 1 hole
M. Ilonen (Fin) bt N. Dibos (Fr) 4 & 3
B. Schlichting (Ger) bt N. Edwards 1 hole
Z. Scotland (Woodcote Park) bt J. Franks (Shirley Park) at 20th
C. Watson (East Renfrewshire) bt M. Thannhauser (Ger) 3 & 2

5th Round
Ryles bt Morgan at 20th Patrick bt East 1 hole
Reimbold bt Hoey at 19th
Van der Valk bt Davies at 19th Wilson bt
Lecuona 2 & 1 Webster bt Fox 4 & 2
Ilonen bt Schlichting 4 & 3