Paterson toasts double success

There’s no rest for the winners in this game. “I’m straight back into the pro shop at 8am on Tuesday,” chuckled Rob Paterson after putting the tin lid on a fine season by winning the Sandy Pipey Young Masters at Royal Dornoch.

The final event on the Arnold Clark Tartan Tour’s Young Professionals’ schedule came to a thrilling finale over the great Dornoch links as Paterson edged out Kyle Godsman at the third play-off hole after they had finished locked at the top on four-under 136s. 

The 25-year-old Kilspindie man, who had opened his assault with a 66, savoured a double success as his victory wrapped up the Young Professionals’ Order of Merit.

It was Paterson who delivered the decisive blow in the sudden-death shoot-out as he clattered a terrific 2-iron into the teeth of the wind on the 18^th and watched his ball roll to within 15-feet. 

Godsman, who had led the field by two after Sunday’s first round, couldn’t make his par and Paterson had the luxury of two-putts for the title.

Having finished third in the Young Pros 36-holer at Arbroath and second in the Scottish Young Professionals’ Championship at Haddington, Paterson’s rise to the winners’ podium capped an excellent campaign on the domestic front.

“It’s been a great season and, by a mile, this has been my best playing year,” said a jubilant Paterson, who has been at Kilspindie for 14 years.

There was some nail-nibbling to endure as Paterson came to the final hole in regulation holding a slender advantage. Godsman’s title ambitions had suffered a grisly blow when he made a triple-bogey seven on the 14^th but he was still in with a shout coming up the last. The Inverness man would get another bite at the cherry in the play-off when Paterson bogeyed the final hole in a level-par 70 to drop back into a share of the lead.

“It was a bit of a nerve-wracking finish,” added Paterson of that final hole. “I knew the putt was for the win but it slid by.”

He made no mistake when he played the 18^th again in the play-off and his approach into the green upped the ante. “It was one of my better shots,” he said of a supremely executed swipe which set up victory.

Craig McKenzie of Loch Lomond took third place on three-under while David Booth (Bishopbriggs) and Graeme Robertson (Fairways Indoor Golf Arena) shared fourth on two-under.

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