The vast experience of former Walker Cup player, David Patrick, helped hoist himself to joint top spot in the Scottish qualifying round at Auchterarder in the flagship event for Britain and Ireland's top young players.
Playing in the Powerade PGA Assistants' Championship in association with FootJoy, Patrick and Iain Colquhoun (Dundonald Links) tied on a two-under 67.
The leading 16 players will now contest the 54-hole final at The London Club in August.
Patrick, who spent seven years on the Challenge Tour, is now, at the age of 34, undergoing PGA training under Ian Muir at Elie Golf Centre in Fife. But his playing ability clearly hasn't deserted him. He shot a steady front nine of eight pars and a birdie, but on a topsy-turvy inward half he alternated birdies with bogeys from the 11th to the 15th, for an inward 32, one under.
Like Patrick, who studied at Charleston in South Carolina, Colquhoun is another product of the US educational system, having picked up a degree in general business studies at Midland College in Texas, through whose doors have passed Andrew Coltart, former British Amateur champion Stephen Dundas, Dean Robertson and Mark Loftus.
Colquhoun, after a level-par outward half, picked up three birdies and a solitary bogey on the way home, finishing with a flourish as he chipped in from the back of the 188-yard 18th.
First-year assistant Robin Gaden, signing for a 68, eventually made light work of the course that adjoins his workplace, Gleneagles Hotel.
A keen fan of online poker ("but I don't play for money - just points in a league"), Gaden overcame a dispiriting start - two bogeys in the first three holes - to grab three birdies before the turn, and then add a birdie and a bogey to a card otherwise peppered with pars.
The kind of luck he needs with the playing cards came to his aid after his four-iron tee shot at the 188-yard final hole landed in the left rough. He then watched with some relief as his next shot, with a 58deg. gap wedge, took two bounces - and disappeared into the hole for his fourth birdie of the round.
11 May, 2009