The search for perfection in this Royal & Ancient game would make the quest for the Holy Grail look like a quick guddle down the back of the couch.
As the great Bobby Jones said: "No one will ever have golf under his thumb."
A knifed bunker shot on the last and a double-bogey to finish was hardly grandstand stuff from Paul Robinson as he eased to the biggest win of his career in the Tartan Tour's £50,000 P&H Championship at The Renaissance yesterday but when you're drinking the celebratory champagne nobody cares how you got the cork out of the bottle. In this pursuit of myriad imperfections, the 26-year-old still had the words of his former coach, the late, great Bob Torrance, urging him on as he closed with a level-par 71 for a seven-under 206 and a four stroke triumph over David Orr, Gareth Wright, Sam Binning and Stephen Gray.
"Bob would always say 'you must strive for perfection'," said Robinson, who picked up the first prize of £6,000 for a success that was slightly bigger than his previous career high at the Cawder Pro-Am. "Of course, you'll never be perfect but what he was meaning was that you just have to try and be as good as you can be. If you keep striving for that then hopefully you'll keep going on to bigger and better things. The ultimate goal for me would be a European Tour card. That's what we all aim for."
Leading by three shots after 36-holes, Robinson, who was paired with former Scottish PGA champion Orr for the final round, was never in any great trouble. His playing partner did reduce the leeway to a couple of shots during the outward half but any building momentum was halted when Orr stumbled to bogeys on both the eighth and the ninth. Robinson capitalised with a telling thrust that included successive birdie putts of 20-feet or so at the ninth, 10th and 11th. "I actually over hit that one on the 11th but when it hit the back of the hole and dropped in I thought 'ok, maybe this will be my day," added Robinson.
It would be. With a handy cushion to play with, Robinson could afford to "hack about" on the last as he hauled himself over the winning line. Nobody was going to rain on his parade and even that temperamental temptress, Mother Nature, waited until he had signed his card before opening the heavens over the East Lothian links. Robinson was home and dry. "I've never won anything as big as this," he said. "I was trying to draw on anything that I've learned just to help me through and the key for me was just to focus on myself and control my own game."
Orr three-putted for par on the 16th and then took three more jabs on the 17th for a bogey in a 72 as he dropped back into a four-way tie for second which earned that quartet £3,375 each.
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