Girls' and Boys' Am

Mukherjee maintains match play form at Boys’ Amateur

The R&A

11 Aug 22

3 mins

Scotland’s Oliver Mukherjee finished in style to claim a notable victory to progress in the Boys’ Amateur Championship 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 glorious blue skies in Angus, with just a light breeze, Mukherjee 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 a winning birdie against Spain’s Inigo Izuzquiza to progress to the last-32 of the boys’ championship.

Open memories

The 16-year-old said, “I did think about Paul Lawrie’s iron shot on the 18th today and remembered his celebration after winning The Open here in 1999. I watched the highlights and it was pretty cool to see. I had 194 yards for my approach, hit it to 10 feet with a 6-iron and made the birdie to close it out. “Paul sent us a video ahead of the Boys’ Home Internationals and he was talking about that shot. He said he felt calm so I was just trying to recreate that.” Mukherjee is enjoying a rich vein of match play form and added, “I was trying to hold on over the closing stretch at Carnoustie, which is never easy, but I birdied three of the last four which was needed. Inigio played so well too, hitting a great drive down the last. “I’ve had quite a good streak in singles match play, winning the last ten in-a-row across the Scottish Men’s Amateur, the Boys’ Home Internationals and today. I find you can get into a zone more consistently than in stroke play.”

Spain's Jorge Siyuan Hao continued to impress on his Championship debut. The leading qualifier progressed with a comfortable 4&3 win over England’s Daniel Hayes to reach the last-32.

Match play starts

The Boys’ Amateur Championship transferred to Carnoustie for its first round of match play after two rounds of stroke play qualifying at Panmure and Monifieth. The leading qualifier, Jorge Siyuan Hao of Spain, continued to impress on his Championship debut, with a comfortable 4&3 win over England’s Daniel Hayes to reach the last-32. Hao’s compatriot, Jaime Fernández Montojo – the highest ranked competitor on the WAGR® at 150th – also progressed, sealing victory against Italian Giovanni Binaghi on the last hole. “I played very well, especially with my long game,” said Hao, 16. “I just need to improve on the greens and get my pace. I’m pretty proud of my game today. “Carnoustie is just a great course. In windy conditions, you have to concentrate on not getting into trouble. The greens are tough too, with lots of uphill and downhill areas, but I’m really excited for tomorrow. The weather is maybe helping me too – I’m used to the sunshine!”

Irish hopes alive

Luke Poulter, son of Ryder Cup star Ian, saw his hopes ended in a two-hole defeat to fellow Englishman Jack Lee, while Ireland’s Adam Kelly defeated Joseph Buttress from Australia 2&1. Connor Graham from Scotland lost out later in the afternoon, going down by two holes to Spain's Angel Ayora who holed from 18 feet on the last to clinch the match. Swede Wilhelm Ryding, who impressed in stroke play qualifying, also exited to Pablo Perez from Spain. “The course is really nice and it’s been less windy than I expected,” said Kelly. “I’m holing putts from everywhere so looking forward to it tomorrow. Putting is key out here. If you can get the ball in the hole, you win matches. “We play many links courses in Ireland so coming over here to Carnoustie is a great feeling. This is my last year for the Boys’ Amateur but it doesn’t add pressure. Each day I take it as it comes and enjoy the moment.”

Four extra holes

The closest match of the day was between France’s Louis Anceaux and Ireland’s Gavin O’Neill. After a gruelling four extra holes, Anceaux took the match on the 22nd. Late in the evening sun there was a fine victory for another Scot, Cormac Sharpe, who edged out Italy's Luca Memeo at the 21st. The last-16 ties for the Girls’ Amateur take place tomorrow, alongside the rounds of 32 and 16 for the Boys’ Amateur. For the first time, the 36-hole finals of both championships on Sunday will be live streamed at Carnoustie and can be watched on The R&A’s website at www.randa.org as well as on The R&A YouTube channel. The Girls' and Boys' Amateur championships are supported by EventScotland. The match play draws, live blog and scoring are also available at www.randa.org