Wright stuff at Strathaven

Gareth Wright won the £1,167 first prize in the Strathaven Golf Club pro-am while players such as runner-up Greig Hutcheon and joint third Neil Fenwick were left rueing their closing holes.

The West Linton Welshman shot a four-under-par 67 in which his outward half of 34 contained not a single par! He had five birdies and four bogeys before the turn but eliminated the negative on bogey-free second nine which was highlighted by birdies six, seven and eight at the 10th, 14th and 18th for 33 home.

Hutcheon shook off a double bogey six at the sixth with birdies at the eight, 10th, 11th, 14th and 16th and was four-under-par on the 18th tee. 

A birdie would have given him victory with a 66; a par would have seen him tie with Wright ...but the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Inchmarlo player bogeyed it for a 68.

Dunbar's Fenwick, after an outward half of 32 reached the 17th tee with victory in his grasp at five-under-par. But he bogeyed the 17th and double bogeyed the 18th to fall back into a five-way tie for third place on 69.

Fenwick did lead the Spencer and Partners' amateur trio of David Davison (handicap 5), Tony Sinclair (5) and Neil Davison (11) to victory in the pro-am team event with a net score of 15-under-par 57. Robert Arnott's Wm Hamilton team also had a net 57 but lost out on countback.