King and Maw secure Mar Hall course record
08/08/2013
Gary King and James Maw each took three shots off the Mar Hall course record on the opening day of the 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour’s MarHall.com Scottish Classic.
The pair sit three shots ahead of the field, carding a nine-under-par 61 to lead the way from Billy Hemstock on six-under and another four golfers on five-under.
King and Maw’s rounds of 61 take the course record from Paul Maddy, last year’s 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour Order of Merit winner, who shot a 64 at this event last year.
“I hit 17 greens and made a bunch of putts,” said King (Tyrrells Wood) after signing for his 61. “I putted really well and if you do that it is going to take you towards a good score.
“I was wedging really well too, there were a lot of wedges out there and I knocked them pretty close. The weather was flat and the greens were rolling well so it was perfect scoring conditions.
“I want to keep pushing forward now and there are still a few things I feel I can do better tomorrow so that is my goal for the second round; to improve on a couple of things and keep pushing forward.”
When Maw (Abbeydale Golf Club) came in to sign for his 61 he already knew that he wasn’t the only golfer playing so well.
“I had seen on the leaderboard at six, my 15th hole, that Gary had gone to eight-under with a few to play so I thought I had better catch him,” he said. “I was holing pretty much everything and the weather was perfect.
“It gave me something to target because I thought I could shoot eight-under and still not lead, so in a way it did help me push for nine-under.”
Jamie Darling, Golf Operations Manager at Mar Hall, admitted he was surprised to see such low scoring at the course.
“I didn’t think there was a score like that out there,” he said. “There are a few European Tour players that come down here – Marc Warren is attached here, Scott Jamieson comes to play here, Chris Doak is playing this week and is three under – and they haven’t shot that around here.
“To see two 61s is fantastic, they were great rounds of golf.”
King shot ten birdies in his round, bogeying the 12th, while Maw dropped a shot at the fourth, having shot eight birdies and an eagle at 15 after a tenth-tee start.
Following the MarHall.com Scottish Classic the top five players on the 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour Order of Merit will be invited to play in the Northern Ireland Open on the Challenge Tour, along with the top five placed Irish nationals on the Order of Merit.
