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European Amateur Championship: Lightning brings halt to play at Duke’s

Chris Robb: one of the few players under par.
Chris Robb: one of the few players under par.

Dangerous lightning strikes around Craigtoun forced the suspension of play and ultimately an abandonment of Friday’s third round in the European Amateur Championship at the Duke’s.

The last group was on the eighth hole when play was halted at 4.30pm, and with no improvement likely Scottish Golf Union Events manager Daniel Sommerville called a halt at 6pm. Eighty-eight players had completed their third rounds with a further 54 out on the course.

“We had dangerous lightning strikes in the area and had to call an immediate suspension,” he said.

“At 6pm there was still lightning in the area and no immediate improvement forecast, so we had to abandon play for the day.”

Play restarted at 7am, with the top 60 and ties qualifying for the fourth and final round scheduled to commence at 11am, with threeballs on a two-tee start.

The European Amateur, unlike most top events, has a 54-hole cut to ensure the teams travelling from all parts of the continent are guaranteed three rounds of play.

It is understood that no contingency plans had been made for the third round as the forecast had not been as severe as the weather that eventually came in late on Friday afternoon.

In the short amount of time that play was possible, first round leader Gary Hurley from Ireland had regained the lead as most of the field were faltering in the tough conditions.

Hurley took a double bogey seven at the tough par-five second hole but a birdie at the first limited the damage to one dropped shot and that was enough to have him leading at three-under.

His three co-leaders after two rounds all dropped back.

Finland’s Lauri Ruuska and Renato Paratore of Italy both dropped early shots to go to two-under while England’s Ben Stow had a nightmare 6-5-6-5 start to drop six shots in just four holes.

Scott Borrowman, the leading Scot, had dropped three shots over the same spell but stayed in a tie for fifth place with two more Irishmen, Chris Selfridge and Dermot McElroy.

Five Scots look set to make the final round, Connor Syme (Drumoig) at two-over, Daniel Young (Craigie Hill) and Euan Walker (Barassie) at four-over joining Borrowman while Chris Robb, who won the national title at Downfield last week, was one of the few under par on the day.

The Meldrum House player was one-under for 13 holes when play was halted.

One other player, Scotland cap Jack McDonald (Barassie) is just one off the cut mark at 11-over after a three-over 74.