TORRENTIAL rain and a howling gale turned the first round of the Amateur Championship into a nightmare for many of the competitors at Turnberry's Ailsa and Arran courses.

But Clitheroe's Paul Dwyer and Stuart Andrew as well as Nelson's Nick Uttley all managed to post scores which put them on the borderline for qualification into the matchplay stage.

The 22-year-old Dwyer shot 76 yesterday on the Arran course which gave him a tie of 39th place.

Andrew, 21, fired 79 on Ailsa which left him tied 30th.

An 80 by Uttley on the same course put him in joint 38th spot, nine shots behind Macon Moye, one of Uttley's playing partners, who led the field at Ailsa. The American is a former professional who enjoyed reasonable success on the Asian tour and now runs a couple of radio stations.

Economics student Niels Boysen from Holland produced a level-par 68 over the Arran course to claim the lead there.

In today's second round the competitors performed over whichever course they did not compete on yesterday.

The top 64 and ties at the end of play will have gone forward to the matchplay stage which starts tomorrow on the championship course, Ailsa.

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