Chris Kelly did have a little wobble as he promised, but eventually the Glasgow man pulled away to his third M&H Logsitics Scottish Professional Championship with a wire-to-wire win at the King’s Course at Gleneagles.
The 40-year-old, champion in 2003 and 2015, shot a final round 67 in a championship shortened to 54 holes but even in the reduced format came close to breaking his own record for margin of victory of seven shots from his first win on the PGA Centenary Course 12 years ago.
In the end he settled for a six-shot margin, but that had been seven shots at one point in a final round played in perfect conditions for scoring. However, in what was a fluctuating day, that cushion was reduced to just two over Paul O’Hara with four to play.
But with one six-iron into a couple of feet at the 15th Kelly recaptured his resolve, and with O’Hara running out of steam the man who led from his first round 63 was able to coast away to claim the £9500 first prize with a 13-under total of 197.
“I can’t quite believe it, and it’s a strange one,” said Kelly, who has completed only intermittently on the Tartan Tour circuit this year. “When I did play this year it’s been just alright, 10th or 12th, that sort of thing.
“I got into the habit of thinking that was quite good because I wasn’t playing that much. I didn’t expect anything like this.”
As a result Kelly spoke over the first two days like he half-0expected some calamity to creep up and overwhelm him, but even when he felt O’Hara’s footsteps on the back nine and “that I was maybe beginning to tie up a little”, he was able to stay on course.
“I felt so nice and in control on the front nine,” he said, having built his lead to seven shots by the time he and O’Hara left the seventh green. “I was quite happy, but then bad shot at 10, another bad one at 13, I’ve made a couple of bogeys and Paul’s made a few birdies and suddenly the lead’s only two.
“Paul’s some player, he hits it right down the flag so often it’s not even funny. I’m thinking `oh,no’ but then I hit a six-iron to two feet at 15, and Paul’s little unlucky, then I hit an 8 iron to three feet under the flag at (the short) 16th and Paul’s missed the green left with not much a shot.
“It’s what can happen on this course, it can get away from you or you can get away with just a couple of shots.”
O’Hara, who had the consolation of tying up the Tartan Tour Order of Merit with his second runners-up finish in successive years – he also was runner-up three times in the Scottish Amateur – felt his driving was poorest for the final round just when he needed it.
Three wins in one of the oldest championships in golf is some career mark – he joins the likes of John Panton, Eric Brown, Sam Torrance and Bernard Gallacher as players who have won the Scottish title more than twice – but he doesn’t regard any one of his wins as better than the others.
“I suppose this one because it was more unexpected for me personally, but really none of the wins was more memorable than any other,” he said.
O’Hara bogeyed both 16 and 17 but rallied for a birdie down the last to claim a share of second place, with veteran Robert Arnott (64) and Greg McBain (66) coming through to also finish on seven-under.
