Ben Kinsley’s dream of being the first St Andrews player to win the Scottish Boys’ Championship in over 50 years faded as the rains came at Dunbar on Friday and he lost out in the semi-finals to Troon Welbeck’s David Wilson.
The 15-year-old fought his way into the last four in the afternoon but found the steady Wilson, a 16-year-old one-handicapper, just too tough a nut to crack and had to settle for a bronze medal after the weather finally closed in on the east Lothian coast after a glorious week.
Wilson will meet the only seed to reach the last eight, Dumfries and County’s Liam Johnston, who will be the heavy favourite for Saturday’s 36-hole final to complete a championship of shocks and surprises, but feels that might be in his favour.
Connor Marsland, the Lincolnshire 17-year-old who came through the top of the draw, lost out to Wilson in the quarter-finals on the final green insisting he wasn’t debilitated by a suspected broken toe sustained when he dropped his powered caddie battery when unloading the car the previous evening.
Two-handicapper Kinsley, meanwhile, came comfortably past Craig Oram 2 and 1 and started the semi superbly with a conceded birdie four and an immediate one-up lead.
However, a short miss at the par-three third brought the match back level and from then on the 16-year-old clubmate of former champion Michael Stewart had the upper hand, winning the sixth when Kinsley hit over the famous Dunbar wall and also the seventh and 10th with pars.
Kinsley had the more impressive looking swing and kept fighting but a nine-iron to five feet for birdie at the short 16th completed the 3 and 2 victory for Wilson.
“I’ve been pretty confident in the way I’ve been playing and felt I could do well this week, so I’m not entirely surprised,” said Wilson.Cool trousers”I told my mates I’d wear the club’s team shirt if I got to the final and it’s pretty awful looking, but I promised so there’s no way out and I’ll make up for it with some cool trousers.”
Normally, Wilson is top to toe in Tiger Woods gear and might have worn a last-day red shirt like his hero, but admits that he’s not so impressed with the man who inspired him to take up the game these days.
“I saw him on TV when I was young and thought, I’d like to try to play like that, but I think his attitude stinks these days,” he added.
“It was the spitting on the green at Dubai that turned me off him, I would have expected better from him than that, and his interview after the Masters at the weekend wasn’t much better.”
Johnston, the elder of the finalists at 18, reached the quarter-finals of the senior championship at Gullane last August, but didn’t expect to be the one member of the Scottish Boys Elite squad to reach the final.
“I just wanted to enjoy this week, play as well as I could, and see what happened,” he said.
“I didn’t expect to reach the final but now I’m here I’m looking to push on.”
Johnston had to battle through a wobbly back nine to beat Jack Scott of East Renfrewshire 2 and 1 in his quarter-final but was always in control of Tantallon’s Callum Hill in the semi, winning 6 and 5.
Quarter-finals: D Wilson (Troon Wellbeck) bt C Marsland (Lincoln) one hole; B Kinsley (St Andrews) bt C Oram (Nairn Dunbar) 2 and 1; L Johnston (Dumfries and County) bt J Scott (East Renfrewshire) 2 and 1; C Hill (Tantallon) bt G Marchbank (Dumfries and Galloway) 1 hole.
Semi-finals: Wilson bt Kinsley 3 and 2; Johnston bt Hill 6 and 5.
Final: Wilson v Johnston (8.30am and 1pm).