South African stands in way of Scotland's streak

The production line that is English junior golf, amply rewarded by Justin Rose's victory in the British Masters last Sunday, shows no sign of slowing down. Rose, 21, is already England's highest placed golfer on the world rankings and heads an exciting band of young professionals that includes Nick Dougherty, Luke Donald and Paul Casey.

Then there are those still to turn professional, such as Zane Scotland. Yesterday, in the opening round of the Amateur Championship here, the 19-year-old extended his unbeaten run to 20 matches.

It is a remarkable streak that began at the Home Internationals last autumn, continued this spring in the Spanish and Portuguese Amateur championships and was added to at the recent England-France international. Despite losing the first hole to Marc Warren, the Scot who holed the winning putt at the Walker Cup last year, Scotland won three successive holes around the turn on his way to a 4 and 3 victory.

Six birdies on a day when the breeze was strong enough to be testing but not so bad that it was unfair, was a good effort. Ideally, Scotland would like to extend his run by a further five matches but this morning he faces a stern test against South Africa's Charl Schwartzel. The 17-year-old finished 15th as an amateur in the South African Open in January and last month won the Brabazon Trophy at Royal Cinque Ports.

Scotland first came to prominence by qualifying for the 1999 Open as a 16-year-old. He made the cut in the Portuguese Open and will play in the Great North Open at Slaley Hall later this month but won't make a decision about turning professional until the end of the year. "With funding from the World Class Performance programme there is no rush to turn pro," he said.

"It is an inspiration what people like Justin Rose are doing. I didn't play much with him but I've spoken to him and I came through the same teams as Nick Dougherty. Paul Casey lives 20 minutes away so it is great to know people when I play in a Tour event. They have all told me not to be pressurised into turning pro, it's a very personal decision."

Scotland came within 22 seconds of being disqualified for a late appearance on the tee in the strokeplay qualifying on Tuesday. Richard Finch headed the qualifiers after a 61 at Pyle and Kenfig but, was the first man to lose in the matchplay section.

Gary Wolstenholme, 40, is the only remaining former winner and was happy to get in early as he is suffering from shin splints, while two other Walker Cup players made it through in Jamie Elson and Nigel Edwards. Aberdeen barman Neil Mitchell, 23, who has never had a lesson in his life, also reached the next round.