Gareth Wright, the Edinburgh-based Tartan Tour campaigner, finished the season as the PGA’s No 1 after a birdie on the very last hole gave him a narrow victory in the PGA Play-offs at the Antalya club in Turkey.
Wright, the Welsh club professional at West Linton just outside the capital, trundled in a putt of 15-feet on the 18th in a closing four-under 67 as he pipped long-time leader Matthew Cort to the title by a shot with a nine-under 275.
“To win an event like this where you’ve got 24 of the top players in the country is really thrilling,” said Wright, who helped GB&I win the PGA Cup in September. “There are some guys out here that have had European Tour cards so it’s a big achievement to come out and win an event like this. It’s the perfect way to end the PGA season.”
Wright’s win earns him entry to a number of European and Challenge Tour events next season including, subject to confirmation from the European Tour, the flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
He is likely to be joined there by Greig Hutcheon, the former Tartan Tour No 1, who finished third in the Turkey shoot-out with a 279. Graham Fox, the former Scottish champion, shared sixth with a 283 and should also gain a Wentworth tee-time.
Meanwhile, the United States Golfing Association (USGA), the body that governs global golf along with the Royal & Ancient, has announced that Diana Murphy will be its new president.
Murphy will become only the second woman, after Judy Bell two decades ago, to hold the position in the 121-year history of the USGA.
On the European Tour, Kirkhill golfer Paul Shields has made the long trip down under for a debut appearance on the main circuit in this week’s Australian PGA Championship.
Shields, who has been plying his trade on the third-tier EuroPro Tour, failed to earn a full European Tour card in the qualifying school final recently but the fact he played in all six rounds gave him an improved category and earned him a call-up for the second event of the 2016 Race to Dubai.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here