O'Meara outdoes Ballesteros

Mark O’Meara’s 14-year-old son Shaun won the special invitation category of the Junior Open held at the Kilmarnock Barassie course near Troon.

Shaun, who plays off a handicap of eight, had net rounds of 71 and 77 to win by a single shot from Javier Ballesteros.

The 13-year-old Spaniard, who plays off six, had net scores of 75 and 74 for 149 – and then went straight to the practice ground with his father Seve to work on his game.

O’Meara, winner of the Open in 1998, was there to greet his son as he came off the 18th green at Barassie.

Ronan Rafferty’s 14-year-old son Jonathan, an eight-handicap member at Sunningdale, finished third with net rounds of 71 and 80 for 151.

The ‘celebrity sons’ were invited to take part alongside the competitors in the Junior Open itself.

That finished today with the elite ‘gold category’ for players with a handicap of three or better.

After rounds of 71 and 72 West Essex’s Oliver Fisher, 15 and a plus-three handicapper, leads by one from Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Korean Dae Hyun Kim.

Aberdeen-born Toby Garrett won the silver category for four-to-nine handicappers. The 16-year-old from Meltham, near Huddersfield, shot rounds of 79 and 77 to win by three.

Garrett took up golf less than three years ago when he realised he was too small to pursue his ambitions as a goalkeeper.

Esther Chloe, a 14-year-old scratch player from California, won the girls’ trophy decided over two rounds. She shot 75 and 73 to pip Yeovil’s Henrietta Brockway by a shot.