It's snow bother for Hutcheon

Greig Hutcheon spent the day battling winter weather before winning the Titleist & FootJoy PGA Professional Championship Scottish qualifying event at Ladybank Golf Club.

Hutcheon, representing the  Inchmarlo Golf Resort in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, was taking part in the event for the first time and carded a two under par round of 69 to win by one shot ahead of Graeme Brown of Montrose Golf Links.

And it meant the seasoned professional qualified for his first PGA Professional Championship final - with the £78,000 showpiece event being held The Oxfordshire course between July 26-29.

But Hutcheon a regular on Tartan Tour and European Challenge Tour events admitted even getting to the Fife venue was a struggle.

“When I drove to the event the road ahead was blocked by snow. The police turned me back, so I had to take a 40 minute detour the long way round to get to the course,” explained Hutcheon.

“And during the event we had to come off for a hailstorm, but it was only a brief stoppage and I was on the 17th so it didn’t affect me too much but it was incredible weather for April!”

Hutcheon, still attached to the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre, admitted that, despite his experience, he found the one round qualifying format kept him on his toes.

“You’re always aware that one bad shot can affect your position on the leaderboard,” he said.

“And with only one round to play, that’s difficult to get back so I kept it nice and steady. I dropped a couple of shot but managed to get four birdies as well so I was happy with that.

“I’d never played in this event before and it was difficult.

“I wasn’t sure two under par would be enough to win it but the PGA provided an excellent venue with superb greens, they got it right and it made for a close contest.

“It was just ironic that with all the sunny days we’ve had recently, we got some cold weather for this event.”

There was a three-way tie for third spot with Paul Wytrazek  (Burntisland Golf Club), Greg Paxton  (Ralston Golf Club) and Paul McKechnie  (Braid Hills Golf Range) all tied on level par while Gullane’s Keir McNicoll, who on Friday received the Titleist PGA Assistant of the Year award was also among the qualifiers.

Full results here.