MAKE hay while the sun shines? Rather fittingly, Gavin Hay did just that at The Renaissance yesterday as he sizzled like that big sphere of hot plasma in the sky and came surging into contention at the Tartan Tour’s P&H Championship.
While the sprightly Greig Hutcheon continued to shrug off the exertions of last weekend’s PGA Cup to share the lead on a nine-under 133 with the charging Gareth Wright, Hay tucked himself into a position to pounce as he posted a tidy 66 of his own to finish just a shot behind with one round to play.
Hay, the 26-year-old from Grantown-on-Spey, has certainly found his form recently and has enjoyed the kind of rich harvest that would get him membership of the National Farmers Union.
Victory in the Deer Park Masters was followed by a telling win in the Carnegie Invitational at Skibo Castle last week which was completed with a closing 64 and earned him £5,500.
Hay, who confessed he has reaped the benefits of switching to a split-hands putting grip, was into his stride early and reeled off a trio of birdies on his first three holes, a thrust illuminated by a putt of some 25 feet on the second.
“It’s nice to keep the momentum up,” said Hay, who was also a distant runner-up in the Northern Open to the runaway order of merit leader Paul O’Hara. “Trying to keep up with Paul has spurred a few of us on. It’s not easy.”
For a change, it’s O’Hara who is playing catch-up this week as the defending champion surrendered his overnight lead and slipped five shots off the pace with a 72.
While O’Hara stalled, Hutcheon and Wright, two powerhouses of the Tartan Tour, mounted robust offensives to move to the front.
Hutcheon bolstered his assault with a 66 that included raking birdie putts at the seventh and the 12th which he described as “a real bonus.”
Wright bettered that a few groups later with a 65, although he was left cursing a missed birdie chance from five feet on the 17th and a three-putt bogey on the last.
All in all though, it was a good day at the office for the reigning Scottish PGA champion from West Linton.
His 6-iron into the third, which spawned an eagle, certainly helped him take flight. The decent conditions in East Lothian aided matters too. It made for a pleasant change.
“Most of our order of merit events have been played in pretty brutal conditions and it’s taken until late September to actually play with a t-shirt on,” said Wright. “It’s been nice.”
What did we say say about making hay again?
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