GARY Wolstenholme, the champion in 1991 and 2003, trod warily through to the last 32 of the Amateur Championship at Royal Birkdale yesterday, proving along the way that there is little substitute for experience. After holing a 12-foot putt at the 18th for a one-hole victory over Mark Halliday in the morning round, the Walker Cup stalwart then went on to beat Ben Parker, a local favourite, 2 and 1 in the afternoon to keep on track for one of the game’s most prized trophies.

At 44, and giving away 27 years to his young opponent, Wolstenholme was outdriven by Parker but made up for his lack of distance with guile and the bloodymindedness for which he is renowned. One down after one hole, Wolstenholme drew level at the next, got up and down in two from sand at the 4th to go one ahead and increased his lead at the 6th — a hole he had looked like losing before his opponent made a hash of his second shot and eventually walked off with a double-bogey six to Wolstenholme’s scrappy five.

Parker closed the gap to one hole at the 11th, but, after taking three putts at the 12th, he fell two behind once more when Wolstenholme got up and down in two from a greenside bunker and then lay dormie three after bogeying the par-five 15th. By then, it was simply a matter of time before Wolstenholme closed out the match. Parker won the 16th but a half at the 17th brought matters to a close.

Oliver Fisher, the 16-year-old Essex schoolboy, could yet find himself on the plane to Chicago in August as part of a Walker Cup team looking for its second successive victory on American soil. A natural-born winner, Fisher has been in fine form in recent weeks, finishing tied second in the Brabazon Trophy and a creditable 21st at the St Andrews Links Trophy and has continued in the same vein here.

With a maturity that belies his age, Fisher is unfazed by the step up from the junior game and yesterday he gave further notice, if any were needed, that he is rapidly becoming a player to watch. In his first match, the 2004 English Under-16 boys’ champion and Faldo Series winner beat Craig Fort, of Nelson, 2 and 1 and then went on to claim an emphatic 6 and 5 victory over Christopher Evans, of Maxstoke Park.

Life on the links was not quite so rosy for Stuart Wilson, the defending champion. He came into the tournament bemoaning his lack of play because of business commitments and could not shake off the rust. The Scot squeaked into the knockout stages but lasted just one round, beaten 5 and 4 by James Williams, of Pontypridd.