Yorkshire golf: Fulford's Charlie Thornton narrowly beaten in last eight of Boys Amateur

FULFORD'S Charlie Thornton was unable to capitalise on a fast start as he fell to a narrow defeat in the quarter-finals of the Boys Amateur championship at Muirfield.

Thornton had shown great skill and spirit to set up a last-eight meeting with Germany's Falko Hanisch and was two up after three holes.

However, Hanisch had pegged back the Yorkshire competitor to be all square by the sixth hole and the players halved the next four holes in a tight tussle.

The German then doubled the advantage handed to him by Thornton's bogey at 11 with a birdie at 12.

The Fulford youngster's response was immediate. He halved the deficit at the next hole and then birdied 15 to leave the match level once again.

The match's decisive hole proved to be the 17th, which Hanisch birdied, and he held on down the 18th to oust Thornton by just one hole.

The Yorkshire youngster at least had the consolation of seeing his conqueror go on to claim a final place against Spain's Alejandro Aguilera.

Aguilera defeated Sweden’s David Nyfjall 2&1 in the first semi-final on Saturday afternoon and was never behind in the contest.

In the second semi-final, Hanisch secured a narrow win by one hole against Adrien Pendaries of France to reach Sunday’s 36-hole climax.