It didn’t seem like much consolation to Michael Stewart in the aftermath of his Amateur Championship final loss to Bryden Macpherson, but the young Scot has got clear vindication that his career gamble is now certain of paying off.
Stewart quit his scholarship at East Tennessee State University in the USA last summer with the aim of making absolutely certain he played on the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team to play the USA at Royal Aberdeen in September, and when he had six weeks off with wrist tendinitis in May it seemed the move might backfire on him.
Instead, his impressive performance at Hillside, with GB&I skipper Nigel Edwards following his every move, has made his selection a certainty.
The 21-year-old from Troon was the dominant-looking player all week at Hillside but perhaps the lack of preparation due to that six-week lay-off finally caught up with him in the final as he went down 3 and 2, watched by a crowd of around 700.
Stewart had come through the toughest part of the draw that featured the three other players generally regarded as the best in the home nations, Ireland’s Paul Cutler and the English duo Tom Lewis and Andrew Sullivan, carrying himself with a confident assurance, but it was clear from early on in the final that something had gone.
“I was dire,” he said afterwards. “I just felt so sorry for all the people who had come down from Scotland to cheer me on, because I didn’t do them or myself justice in the morning.
“I lost a bit in my long game and that eventually had an effect on my short game and my putting, and to be honest I was giving Bryden holes rather than him outright winning them.”
Missed short putts at the 9th, 10th and 11th as Macpherson holed out at each created a cushion that the Australian was never to lose, and the 20-year-old from Melbourne’s holing out was never less than immaculate much in the manner of Korea’s Jin Jeong in beating Stewart’s Scotland colleague James Byrne in last year’s final at Muirfield.
Stewart was much more on track in the afternoon and when he eagled the long fifth to get back to one down and then had an advantage at the sixth, it seemed the Aussie might wilt, but a gutsy 12-foot par putt maintained his lead.
Again, when Stewart holed a 30-footer at the 11th for a par, the Scot thought it was the turning point, but instead Macpherson’s short game held up and it was the favourite who lost the 14th and 15th to leave himself out of options.
The Scot will pace himself throughout the rest of the season to protect his wrist, with the only certainty apart from Royal Aberdeen being he will defend his Scottish Amateur title at Western Gailes in July. He is toying with playing in the US Amateur at Erin Hills, a links-style course in Wisconsin, but will not enter Open qualifying.
Stewart’s win in the South African Amateur in March gives him a place in the South African Open at the end of this year, and 2012’s Amateur is in his home town at Royal Troon, but he’s keeping his options open at the moment about turning pro at the end of the season.
One Scot will get to the Open and the Masters as a result of Macpherson’s victory, however, as the Australian has already appointed former British Boys’ finalist Fraser Fotheringham as his caddie for both championships.
The pair have become good friends after hosting each other in their respective seasons.