Wan and Mukherjee claim victories to progress in R&A Girls’ and Boys’ Amateur Championship
Amelia Wan and Oliver Mukherjee claimed notable victories to progress in the R&A Girls’ and Boys’ Amateur championships at Carnoustie.
For the first time, the match play stages of the Girls’ and Boys’ Amateur are being played simultaneously at one venue over the famous links.
Under wonderful blue sky in Angus, with just a light breeze, English player Wan was in the first match out at 7am and knocked out the leading stroke play qualifier, Paula Martin Sampedro, to reach the last-16 in the girls’ championship.
In the Boys’ Amateur, Mukherjee also shone as he continued the form that saw him win the Scottish Men’s Amateur Championship last month.
Mukherjee was inspired by Paul Lawrie’s decisive iron shot into the 18th to win The Open in a play-off at Carnoustie in 1999 as he closed out his match with Spain’s Inigo Izuzquiza to progress to the last-32 of the boys’ championship.
The second round of match play in the Girls’ Amateur Championship took place in the morning, with the opening tie seeing an impressive 2&1 win for Wan, 15, over Martin Sampedro from Spain.
There was more success for English players, as Lottie Woad, Maggie Whitehead, Cherry Marley, Rachel Gourley and Ellise Rymer all progressed to the last-16.
After yesterday’s impressive victory against Meja Ortengren – the competitor with the highest ranking on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) – Wales’ Emily James continued her form by clinching a win against Andrea Revuelta on the 19th hole.
Avani Prashanth, 15, the only Indian competitor left in the field, produced an excellent 5&4 win over Fleur van Beek of the Netherlands. Eila Galitsky, the sole player from Thailand, also performed well in her match against France’s Constance Fouillet, winning 4&2.
The biggest win in the last-32 ties came from Paula Francisco, with the Spaniard defeating Rebekah Gardner from Ireland 6&4.
Amelia Wan, said: “I didn’t make that many mistakes on the front nine but Paula did make a few. On the back nine she just steadied up and started holing all of her birdie putts. It was expected so I just had to keep it steady.
“I went to watch the AIG Women’s Open after the Girls’ Home Internationals and it was tough out there. I was just hoping it would be a bit easier here and it is. It’s still really tough for scoring but it’s such a nice course and I’m really grateful to be here.”
