IT wasn’t quite an exhibit from the British Golf Museum but Chris Kelly dug into the archives and unearthed a vintage performance which thrust him into the lead after the delayed opening round of the M&H Logistics Scottish PGA Championship at Gleneagles.
“It’s been a long time since a score like that and I was flapping a bit,” said the Glasgow man with a smile after a surging seven-under 63 on the King’s course left him three strokes clear of Paul O’Hara and Paul Robinson in the Tartan Tour flagship which has been reduced to 54-holes following Monday’s fog suspension.
While many of the earlier starters yesterday were blown off course by the windy remnants of Storm Ophelia, Kelly took advantage of his later tee-time and birdied five of his last six holes to power to the front.
It wasn’t an easy day, though. “It was still blowing a gale on the front nine,” added Kelly, who won the Scottish PGA title in both 2003 and 2015. “I putted very well today. If you do that, then you can rescue a lot of rubbish.”
O’Hara, the dominant force on the Tartan Tour this season, made most of his gains on the tougher front nine in a tidy 66 to lurk among the leaders as usual. “But I’m wee bit disappointed I never made more on the inward half,” said O’Hara, who was pipped to the national title in a play-off last year.
O'Hara was joined on that mark by Largs man Robinson, who illuminated his 66 with a cracking 3-wood into 25-feet on the sixth which led to an eagle.
Robinson claimed his biggest title on the domestic scene in the P&H Championship two years ago, but the 28-year-old has struggled to scale those heights since.
“It’s been another barren year,” admitted Robinson, whose financial situation means he will resume a winter job next week selling tickets on the pier for the Wemyss Bay to Rothesay ferry.
There were some choppy waters for defending champion Gareth Wright to negotiate and he was far from happy with a 75 as his bid to become the first player to win back-to-back titles since Ross Drummond in 1990 suffered an early blow.
Wright played three holes in the fog on Monday before play was halted. Should they have even started?
"I'm not an official so I can't comment," said a clearly brassed off Wright, who was not overly enamoured by being out in the very first group either. "I was a bit surprised by that," he added with a sombre look.
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