MIDDLESBROUGH Brass Castle teenager Michael Skelton has already admitted defeat in his bid to be included in this year's Walker Cup team.

After starring for both Yorkshire and England last season, 19-year-old Skelton was widely tipped as a front-runner to break into the Great Britain and Ireland team, bidding for a second successive defence of their title at Ganton, Scarborough on September 6-7.

But despite narrowly missing the cut at the British Masters at the Forest of Arden recently - his first appearance in a professional tournament - Skelton, from Marske, believes his performances this year have not been good enough to make the ten-man squad.

"I'll be very surprised if I make it into the Walker Cup squad simply because my form has not been up to scratch," said Skelton, who was part of the Yorkshire team that won their seventh successive Northern Counties Championship at Sandimoor on Saturday, finishing 26 strokes ahead of fifth-placed Durham.

"It would be fantastic to play at Ganton; a real honour. But I have to be honest with myself and admit that I have under-performed this season.

"I've done okay, but 'okay' is not going to be enough to confirm my place in the squad. There are players in much better form than me."

Meanwhile, another player hoping to break into the Walker Cup squad, Skelton's clubmate and fellow England Elite Squad member Jonathan Lupton, has seen his hopes of finishing top of the EGU/Ping Order of Merit suffer a further blow following Gary Wolstenholme's victory at Turnberry in the Scottish strokeplay championship last weekend.

Wolstenholme (69-67-68-69-273) followed up his British Amateur title success he won at Royal Troon the previous week by finishing 11 under par, four strokes ahead of second-placed Richard Walker.

The result means that Wolstenholme further extends his lead over 24-year-old Lupton, from Yarm, by 288 points. Former Durham County Champion Walker (74-67-69-67-277) is third.

l England's Martin LeMesurier rewrote the record books when he carded a second successive 64 to lead at the halfway mark of the Clearstream International Luxembourg Open, writes MARK DAVIS.

His 16 under par tally of 128 is the lowest 36-hole aggregate, one stroke better than the previous mark set by Philip Golding in Italy two years ago.

LeMesurier, the 27-year-old from Southampton, was a morning starter from the tenth tee and reached the turn in 33 with three birdies.

Then at the 533-yard second hole, his 11th, he fired a two iron to six feet and holed for an eagle.

He followed that with three more birdies in the next four holes and was home in 31 to match his previous day's score.