Banff's Duff House Royal Golf Club hosts Scottish Senior Men's Championship event and David Logie from Dun Whinny Golf Club at Gleneagles shoots 63 to lead after the first round
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THE Scottish Senior Men's Championship is in Banff this week, with some low scoring lighting up the first round at Duff House Royal Golf Club on Wednesday.
Gleneagles golfer David Logie, from Dun Whinny Golf Club, leads the way after shooting a five-under-par 63 to lead by two shots from Englishmen Tim Seaton, Stuart Brown and Rupert Kellock.
Logie stormed through the front nine with five birdies in an impressive 29 shots and was six-under after 13 holes, before dropping three shots and gaining two more in the closing five holes.
“Surprised would be my initial feeling about it,” said the leader. “I’ve been playing well but I didn’t quite see five under today.
“I hit the ball quite nicely in practice but rolled in a few putts today which makes all the difference.
“The conditions were pretty friendly out there, the pins were quite generous, but it is still way above what I expected. I’ll just have to go out and try to do the same again tomorrow.”
Two scrambled pars in the last three holes helped Seaton card shoot his age of 65 with a flawless, three-under round.
"It was certainly a lot calmer than it has been the last few days,” he said. "The course is in good condition so I was expecting low scores.
"I played very steady and for once putted quite well. I had 15 pars and three birdies. I got up and down from bunkers on 16 and 18 which was very pleasing and at the end of it all a 65 meant it was the first time I had shot my age."
Kellock showed exactly why he has won the English Senior title for the last two years when he matched leader Logie's front nine 29, only to drop shots on the 15th and 16th coming home.
"I lost the pace from eight or nine onwards," he said. "I had opportunities on eight, nine, 12 and again on 18 so it was a bit disappointing to finish so weakly.
"But I’m delighted to start with three under. I’d have bitten your hand off if you’d offered me that on the first tee.”
The best story of the first round probably belonged to Dunnikier Park’s Derek Paton who started the day in the draw for The Amateur Championship at Nairn but after losing in the first round to John Paterson then drove 56 miles to Banff to take up his place in the Senior Men’s Open field.
Paton’s cross-country dash appeared to have little effect on him when he fired four birdies in an opening nine of 30 although it was perhaps no real surprise when he dropped shots at 13, 15 and 16 to finish on one under par 67.
“It’s been tough,” admitted the Scottish senior international. “I jumped into the car and drove down here which took about an hour and a half.
"I got here about 25 minutes before my tee time, so I hit a few putts, grabbed something to eat and got off to a flyer.
"After playing in The Amateur, it felt a bit like playing a practice round. It was so easy out there but then things caught up with me.
“I got a bit tired, got a bit lazy and made a few mental errors, but I held it together over the last couple of holes and one under is pretty good. I’m pretty happy with that.
“Now I’ve got to go back to Inverness to collect my stuff from the hotel,” he added. My wife’s still there. She caddied for me at Nairn. She packing stuff up but we’ll stay there tonight and then get up early and come back here tomorrow.”
Graham Bell came into the event bidding to claim the Scottish Senior trophy for a third time but has left himself with a lot to do after opening with a four over par 72 although he did make up some ground on the leaders with a birdie on the last.
The Scottish international from Downfield goes into the second round in the large group in a share of 37th place two shots ahead of 2018 champion Ronnie Clark, from Erskine, who found himself just below the cut line after a first round 74.
The cut comes after the second round with the top 60 players and those tied for 60th place progressing to the final 18 holes on Friday.
All scores from the 2021 Scottish Senior Men’s Open Championship will be registered by players on the course using the Scottish Golf App.
This means that live scores from Duff House Royal will be available for everyone to follow on the Scottish Golf Website.
