If Greig Hutcheon produces any more eagles on the 18th green of the King’s course this week, he will probably attract the attention of the RSPB.
For the third day in a row at the M&H Logistics Scottish PGA Champ-ionship here at Gleneagles, this hardy Tartan Tour perennial eagled his final hole as his push for a third national title at the age of 45 stayed on course.
Hutcheon, who landed the crown in 1999 and 2013, was flying high again as his battling two-under 68 for a 10-under aggregate of 200 left the Aberdonian in a share of top spot with Paul O’Hara heading into the closing day.
Having held the overnight lead, Hutcheon had to work hard to make sure he was still at the sharp end by yesterday afternoon. A bogey on the first had him swiftly on the back foot and after leaking another stroke on the seventh, Hutcheon trundled in a crucial par putt of around 10-feet on the 10th to spare any further dents in the card.
From there on in, Hutcheon got to work repairing the damage with all the gusto of a panel beater ironing out a battered front wing. A birdie on 12 was followed by a “real bonus” of a birdie on the 13th where he rolled in a fast, tricky, turning putt from 30-feet.
His final hole assault was as expertly executed as it was tactically shrewd. With a new back tee in operation on the par-5, which brings menacing fairway bunkers into play, Hutcheon opted to throttle it in and unleashed a 5-wood before employing the same club for his second shot and thrashing it to within inches of the hole for his three.
“It came off perfectly,” he cooed. “After staring at a putt on the 10th and thinking I could be going three-over, finishing like that was really pleasing. I think this may be my last chance to win this title and I’ve got a good
opportunity again.”
O’Hara, the former Scottish amateur No. 1 who has emerged as something of a dominant force on the Tartan Tour in recent years, kept the pressure on with a four-under 66 to move into a share of the lead.
Having won just about everything on the Tartan Tour, as well as notable titles on the wider UK PGA scene, the Scottish PGA championship would be a sizeable addition to an impressive cv.
The 32-year-old still has plenty of golf to play this season with the PGA Play-offs coming up as well as the EuroPro Tour Grand Final.
“A half decent finish in the EuroPro event could still get me into the top-five of the Order of Merit and on to the Challenge Tour,” said O’Hara, who hasn’t ruled out a return to compet-ition at a higher level after trying his luck in the formative stages of his pro career.
Chris Currie, runner-up in the Scottish Championship in 2011, thrust himself back into the mix with a 65 to lurk just one shot off the pace with a round to go.
Having struggled to make advances on the front nine for the first two rounds – he was level-par for the outward stretch – Currie made purposeful strides yesterday and turned in four-under to bolster his title tilt.
“The season has been mince to be honest but this was better,” he said of a modest campaign.
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