Gleneagles Scottish PGA championship

GRAEME McINNES FINDS HIS WAY AGAIN TO LEAD WITH A 69 - THANKS TO RIVAL CRAIG LEE!

By his own admission, Graeme McInnes had lost his way as a golfer in the 10 years since he decided he could make a living as a tour professional.
But at the end of today's first round of the Gleneagles Scottish PGA championship, it was the 34-year-old Aberdonian, pictured right, who occupied the pole position on the leaderboard with a four-under-par 69.
Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills) was his nearest rival on 70 with Craig Lee, David Orr and Jason McCreadie on 71.
It was a day when only 11 players in a field of 132 broke the par of 73. The length and degree of difficulty of the course, the severity of the rough and a boisterous cross wind all combined to put some of the pre-tournament favourites seemingly out of contention on the opening day of the 72-hole championship.
Craig Ronald took 78, Chris Kelly 79, Gary Collinson and Adam Hunter 80 and Mark King 82.
The man who has helped Graeme to rediscover the talent he had as an amateur is fellow competitor Craig Lee . Lee lost to Dean Robertson in a play-off for the Gleneagles title 12 months ago – so he obviously Knows what he’s talking about!
“Craig and I are good pals from way back but this has been a commercial relationship over the past year,” said Graeme. “Sometimes I go down to his place in Stirling. On other occasions he will come up to Murcar Links.
“My mind had become too full of technique. Craig has simplified things for me, clearing out from between my ears what I don’t need to think about, and it certainly helped a lot today.”
Only those who drove it straight and kept out of the penal rough close to the edge of the fairways had a chance of getting round the Jack Nicklaus-designed “mini monster” that is the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles. And a blustery wind blowing across most of the fairways made it a real test of skill.
The composite par-73 course – some blue tees, some white tees - in use for this tournament is 7,153yd long, still some 200yd short of the maximum length for the 2014 staging of the Ryder Cup contest.
“It’s long and it’s tough but the Centenary Course is possibly my favourite inland course in Scotland,” said Graeme. “And I’m not just saying that because I had a 69 today. I missed the cut last year and the year before I actually broke a finger playing out of the rough at the 12th hole!”
And yet McInnes could not have been blamed for thinking “Here we go again” when he was three over par after six holes with bogeys at the first, third and sixth.
But birdies at the seventh and ninth gave him back his self confidence and, after turning in over-over-par 37, he birdied three in a row from the 10th and finished on a high with putts of 25 and 10 feet dropping for birdies at the 17th and 18th.
Graeme had come storming home in five-under-par 32, including five single putts - easily the best inward half of the day.
Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills), leader of the Tartan Tour money table and Order of Merit this season, shot a 70 for second place overnight.
“It’s a fantastic course, really demanding and that’s how it should be for a championship You just have to keep the ball on the fairways to get a score and my game plan was to play the round from the middle of the fairways,” said 30 year old Paul who birdied the first, second, third and 14th and had only one bogey, at the sixth.
“I succeeded because I did not miss a single fairway. This course suits my game. You just can’t stand up on every tee and slash it anywhere. And you have to keep your patience.”
Greig Hutcheon, winner of the title eight years ago, lost a ball at the second hole and ran up a 7. “I really struggled after that and had to birdie the 12th and 16th to escape with a 75,” said the Peterculter pro. “I should have listened to my caddie’s advice more than I did.”
Northern Open winner Murray Urquhart from Inverness, who has his reservations about the changes made recently to Jack Nicklaus's original design for the course, hung on in there to match the par of 73. He had a rough time approaching the turns with bogeys at the fifth, seventh and ninth, having birdied the second but he got it going again with birdies at the 10th, 15th and 16th and only a bogey at the very last hole cost him one of the day’s 11 sub-par rounds.
In the last trio to finish - some 5 1/2 hr out on the course - was Graeme Lornie from Aspire Golf Centre. All things considered, Graeme did very well to return a 73.
Only the leading 50 and ties after Friday's second round will go forward to the weekend 36 holes.
ALL THE FIRST ROUND SCORES
PGA Centenary Course. Par 73. 7,153yd.

69 G McInnes (Murcar Links).
70 P McKechnie (Braid Hills).
71 C Lee (All Golf Swing Centre), D Orr (East Renfrewshire), J McCreadie (Buchanan Castle).
72 R Gray (Torrance House), S Gray (Hayston), C Nicoll (Prestwick), C Gillies (Kingsfield), S Duncan (Balbirnie Park), P Alexander (Caldwell).
73 L Barn (Noah’s Ark), A Lockhart (Ladybank), E Thomson (Largs), S Cairns (Westerwood), D Robertson (Mearns Castle GA), M Urquhart (Inverness), M Loftus (Cowglen), A MacKenzie (Liberton), G Lornie (Aspire).
74 P Wardell (Whitekirk), G Law (Uphall), L Harper (unatt), R Arnott (Bishopbriggs DR), A Jowett (Gleneagles Hotel), G Fox (West Kilbride), K Hutton (Downfield), J Hedberg (unatt), F Mann (Musselburgh), I Campbell (unatt).
75 S Catlin (Greenburn), S Morrison (Glenbervie), A Purdie (Kingsbarns Links), G McFarlane (Clober), S Rettie (Royal Troon), G Hutcheon (Peterculter), D Brown (Gleneagles Hotel), K Walker (Castle Park), J Sharp (Carrick at Cameron House), B Mason (Drumoig DR), D Patrick (Mortonhall).
76 D Park (Wishaw), A Fleming (North Highland College), G Harvey (Kinross), I Pender (Aberfoyle), J McKinnon (Irvine), C Doak (unatt), K Campbell (Machrihanish), S Reekie (King James VI).
77 I Taylor (Drumpellier), J Stevenson (Braehead), R Smith (Gleneagles Hotel), K Stables (Elgin), G Cook (Prestonfield), A J Webster (Edzell), P Wytrazek (Burntisland), J Cliff (Murrayfield), A Mackrell (Gary Mitchell Golf), S Brown (Gleneagles Hotel).

============PROJECTED CUT AFTER SECOND ROUND =========

78 C Gordon (Edinburgh GC), K Monaghan (Bothwell Castle), C Ronald (Carluke), F McLaughlan (Bothwell Castle), D McCormack (East Aberdeenshire), E Cameron (Hamilton), K McGowan (Burntisland), L Vannet (Carnoustie GL), G Dingwall (Royal Dornoch), S Taylor (Bothwell Castle), I Graham (Crow Wood).
79 J McGhee (Turnhouse), D Williamson (Kirkhill), D Gordon (Paisley), S Smith (Ladybank), A Crerar (King James VI), N Scott-Smith (Palacerigg), M Henderson (Royal St David’s), C Kelly (Cawder), M Lacey (Gleneagles Hotel).

80 S O’Donnell (Balbirnie Park), A Macrae (Gleneagles Hotel), M Barnard (unatt), S Pardoe (Nevada Bobs), G Niven (Stirling Univ), N Reid (Deeside), M Goldie (Lochgelly), S Craig (Paragon Akademie), E Hogarth (Peebles), D McIntosh (Elderslie), S Thompson (Castle Golf), A Hunter (Mearns Castle GA), G Collinson (Esporta Dougalston)..
81 M Berrie (Braid Hills GR), G Duncan (Westin Turnberry), N Colquhoun (Merchants of Edinburgh), L Mann (Kings Links), A Hutton (World of Golf), C Elliott (Haggs Castle), A Marshall (Houston GR), P Mitchell (Aberdour), K Phillips (Winterfield), C Elliott (Haggs Castle), J Murray (Gleneagles Hotel), R Valentine (Craigielaw), R Neill (unatt).
82 Billy Marchbank (Auchterarder), A E Reid (West Lothian), S Savage (Dalmuir), D Thomson (Carnegie Club), G Crowbrough (Muckhart), B Mackay (Loch Lomond), G Bruce (Westhill), S Pithie (Carluke), M King (Kingsfield GR).
83 K Baxter (Buchanan Castle), R Clark (Dumfries & Co), G Rankin (Stirling), J Anton (Noah’s Ark).
84 A Cooper (Newmachar), S Finlayson (Charleton), S Wilson (Gleneagles Hotel), C Everett (Caldwell), S Syme (Dumfries & Co), B Wallace (unatt).
85 C Donnelly (Balbirnie Park).
86 I Nicholson (Kilmacolm).
87 A Campbell (Farringdon).
88 C Campbell (Loch Lomond).
90 C Knowles (Murrayshall).
Retired: G Boswell (Mearns Castle).
*Disqualified – I Hanna (Strathclyde Park), V Brown (Westerwood), D F G Scott (Kingsbarns Links)
*Under SPGA "rules," disqualified covers "No Returns."