Hutcheon on fire at Deeside pro-am

Greig Hutcheon (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) surprised the field with a superb seven-under-par 63 at Deeside Golf Club to win the VSA Tartan pro-am.

There was no indication of what was to come when he bogeyed the par-three opening hole. But then Hutch birdied the second, long third and fourth, got an eagle three at the long sixth and still reached the turn in three-under 33 despite a second bogey at the seventh.         

Hutcheon cruised home in a flawless four-under 30, raising his total of birdies to seven with sub-par figures at the short 12^th, long 13^th, 15^th and 17^th.

He said: "The putter worked well, but generally I kept the ball in play, except driving it in two fairway bunkers at the seventh, which cost me a bogey at the 11^th where I managed to salvage a par.

"We played from the white tees. Obviously Deeside is a stiffer test from the gold tees. But still really pleased with a great score. 

"We will see how good my golf really is next week when I will be playing in the BMW PGA Championship as there’s nowhere to hide around Wentworth, it’s probably the toughest inland course in the country,"

Scott Henderson (Kings Links Golf Centre) and Craig Ronald (Carluke) shared second place on 66. Henderson had a double bogey six at the second hole but he covered the remaining 16 holes in six-under-par. Both men earned £869.

Strangely enough, Hutcheon's team did not win the team event nor finish in the first three for that matter.

Iain Donaldson (Meldrum House), playing with the NYOP amateur trio, led the way with a best ball net score of 123. Iain's amateur partners were Gordon Edwards (handicap 17), Mike Milne (14) and Ross Sangster (14).