Amateur Championship: Byrne bigs up Arizona sun as he bids for Amateur win

JAMES BYRNE, the sole Scot left standing as the Amateur Championship reached the quarter-finals at Muirfield this morning, has advised his young compatriots to chase the sun if they are thinking of signing up for an American college.

The Scottish international, who has spent the last three years at Arizona State, says he can't understand why some players, including James Ross of Royal Burgess, have chosen a college where the weather is often not much better than it would be in Scotland.

"There is no real sense in going to somewhere like Michigan State as the weather can sometimes be worse than it is here," said Byrne.

"In Arizona, you might have to put a jumper on in December and January but between February and November it is perfect.

"It has got to be an advantage playing and practising in good conditions – that was the whole idea of me going over there."

Byrne, who was up against Frenchman Edouard Espana in the last eight, had plenty of options when he decided on a scholarship in the US.

He could have gone to Texas, California or Oklahoma, but took one look at the list of former players on the Arizona roster and knew exactly where he wanted to be. "I think Arizona have 11 former players on the PGA Tour, including Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey and Pat Perez," he revealed. "When I learned that, I thought I would have a pretty good chance to follow their lead."

At the end of his second year in the States, Byrne returned to Scotland and enjoyed a blistering run of form. He romped to victories in the Tennant Cup and East of Scotland Open and, in between, passed the Open qualifying test with flying colours at Musselburgh.

This year he won't have to go back to Monktonhall as his world ranking gets him straight into the Local Final Qualifying later in the month.

"After having a good summer last year, I knew I could come home and do well again," said the 21-year-old after securing his place in the quarter-finals on another Mediterranean-like day in East Lothian.

Byrne was again watched by Scotland captain Scott Knowles, who will surely be keen to see him on the side defending the Eisenhower Trophy later in the year.

Welshman Rhys Enoch, who was also just three wins away from earning a place in next month's Open and also The Masters next year, praised caddie Paul Gibson after he stayed on course for the title.

"Paul has been a big help," said Enoch," who was let out of jail when Jordan Findlay, his third-round opponent, took a double-bogey 6 up at the last before losing at the 19th.

In addition to the Scot (Byrne), the Welshman (Enoch) and the Frenchman (Espana), the make up of the last eight at Muirfield consisted of two Englishman (Matt Nixon and Chris Paisley), an Irishman (Paul Cutler), a South Korean (Jin Jeong) and an Italian (Andrea Pavan).