Hutcheon’s yellow brick road

Curious lot golf fans. Not least when an ill-directed ball lands in their midst.

Under such circumstances you would expect the religious to thank whatever deity they pray to for keeping them out of harm’s way or the more worldly to check their life insurance policies.

Not golf fans. Instead they gather round the errant spheroid and peer at it as if it has arrived from Mars rather than a tee some 300 yards away.

In which case, one wonders what the spectators lining the Wentworth fairways today would have made of Greig Hutcheon’s fluorescent yellow number had he deposited it among them.

Happily the Scottish teaching pro’s co-ordinated negotiation of the West Course in the BMW PGA Championship’s third round ensured only par figures as opposed to life and limb were under threat. 

But that was not all that was co-ordinated as far as Hutcheon was concerned - matching the hue of his ball was an eye-catching baseball cap.

All that was missing to complete the picture was the banana-coloured Ferrari that has been cruising round the Wentworth Estate during the tournament.

Talking of motors, a gull-winged hot rod courtesy of the sponsors is up for grabs for anyone who records a hole-in-one at the par-three 14^th.

Not that there was much chance of that in the third round given the sliver of land that lay between the bunker at the front of the green and the hole.

Lacking the NASA-like precision needed to claim the prize, Hutcheon made three there to remain on level par for the day and the tournament.

Great stuff from hutch today!! #pgachampionship #PGAScotland

— Chris Kelly (@chrisjkelly1) May 28, 2016

However, he then fell foul of what is proving the most difficult hole on the course this week, the par-four 15^th.  Having escaped from a greenside bunker (above) his par-saving putt lacked conviction.

It proved a setback that lit the blue touch paper for an explosive triple birdie finish.

His approach to the 16^th landed 18 inches from the pin to set up the first; a 20 foot putt after negotiating the 17^th via a circuitous route secured the second; and two putts from the fringe after his approach came within inches of an albatross resulted in the third and a two-under-par round of 70.

All of which leaves him two-under going into the final round, seven strokes adrift of the overnight leader, Australia’s Scott Hend, and ahead of fellow PGA pros Robert Rock (one-under), Simon Khan (level), Craig Lee and Matt Ford (both four-over).

It also puts him on course to eclipse his best finish in the tournament, which was four-over in 2013, and a reminder of what might have been had he not sustained a freak injury.

“I was a good player back in the day but I got a stupid injury with a snowball fight that was a career finishing injury – it’s just nice to get back,” he said.

“In the last 13 tour events I’ve played I’ve made nine cuts. That gives you a bit of self-satisfaction.

“I made the last four in the Scottish Open and while I might not be a superstar living in a gated community in Florida and playing on the PGA Tour, I’m still having fun.”