Changing of the guard on Tartan Tour

It may have finished with the clock being turned back as Chris Kelly claimed a third M&H Logistics Scottish PGA Championship success, but for the most part the 2017 Tartan Tour season signalled a changing of the guard.

Paul O'Hara and Gavin Hay enjoyed successful campaigns, while Kris Nicol, Sam Binning, Cameron Marr and Ross Munro all offered glimpses of what the future may hold over the next few years.

While Greig Hutcheon shows little sign of losing his competitive edge - the highlight of his gutsy campaign was clinching victory for compatriot Albert MacKenzie's team in the PGA Cup at Foxhills in Surrey.

The Motherwell man had fallen out of love with tournament golf when he stopped playing in 2012, but he was able to stay in the game by doing his PGA training and is back enjoying playing again.

O'Hara laid down his marker for the campaign by winning the Scottish qualifier at Ladybank for the Titleist & Footjoy PGA Championship, an event that provided one of the highlights of his season in June.

The North Lanarkshire Leisure-attached player beat a strong field at Luttrellstown Castle in Ireland with a three-under par total of 285 to claim the £10,000 top prize and become the first Scot to lift that title since Gordon Law in 2003.

It was a Scottish one and two on this occasion as Chris Currie finished as O'Hara’s closest challenger, an effort that earned the Caldwell player a PGA Cup spot and, boy, did he rise to that occasion by picking up three-and-a-half points from five matches.

By that time, O'Hara had already won the opening major of the season on the Tartan Tour. The first day of the Northern Open at Moray was all about survival in brutal conditions and O'Hara's 72 was one of the outstanding rounds of the season.

After backing it up with scores of 68, 66 and 71, the former Scottish amateur No 1 finished seven shots clear of the field.

O'Hara struck again in a new event, the St Andrews Brewing Co. 36-holer at West Linton, in August and his first Order of Merit title was in the bag as he then chased home Kelly in that season-ending M&H Logistics Scottish PGA Championship at Gleneagles.

In another weather-hit event, reduced to 54 holes after play on the opening day was curtailed due to fog, Kelly, the champion in 2003 and 2015, tamed strong winds to open with a stunning seven-under-par 63 on the King's Course.

Despite backing that up with a 67 to lead by five shots, the 40-year-old wasn't convinced he could go on and finish the job due to a lack of playing time. Finish it he did, though, and in style, too, by covering the last four holes in three-under after playing partner O'Hara had closed the gap to just two shots.

As for Hay, the Grantown-on-Spey man won the Deer Park Masters in a play-off before carding a sensational 64 at Skibo Castle to claim an equally impressive victory in the Carnegie Invitational.

Other highlights of the campaign included West Linton's Gareth Wright maintaining his incredible play-off record in East Lothian to pip Hutcheon for the P&H Championship, having also triumphed in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open qualifier, helped by an opening 64 at Kilmarnock (Barassie).

Nicol won the Scottish Young Professionals Championship for the first time at West Lothian before also finishing as the leading player in that category in the M&H Logistics Scottish PGA Championship.