LOFTY IS SWINGING IN THE RAIN TO LAND
HIS BIGGEST TITLE AND CHEQUE

“Lofty” Mark Loftus – 6ft 4in in his stocking soles – was walking even taller than usual last night after become the Gleneagles Scottish PGA champion.
Starting the day with a one-stroke lead, Mark, 28-year-old Cowglen Golf Club, Glasgow tour pro, never lost the advantage, although twice he had to share it, as he splashed his way to his biggest title and top pay day in only his second year on the Tartan Tour.
On a day of unrelenting rain, which stopped short of flooding the fairways, Loftus signed off with a two-over-par 75 for a two-under-par final total of 290. That earned him a cheque for £8,800.
After the luxury of a three-putt, bogey 6 at the last – “I asked an official if I could take three putts and still win, and when he said ‘Yes,’ I decided that I would play safe with three putts” – Loftus won by one shot from joint runners-up Craig Lee (All Golf Swing Centre) and Sam Cairns (Westerwood) who each picked up a £5,875 consolation reward.
Loftus, a one-time protégé of Paul Lawrie, birdied the first but lost a ball at the seventh and dropped another shot in the sodden conditions at the 13th.
But he wedged to 2ft for a birdie at the 14th and that was the turning point.
“I knew from the scoreboards that I was back in a clear lead and it was just a case of playing sensibly from there in,” said Loftus.
“The course was playing so long with the rain – absolutely no run on the fairways where you were lucky to find a dry spot to drop the ball away from casual water – but my ball striking’s been tremendous all week and that was important on a day like today.
“I phoned my coach, Adam Hunter on Saturday night and he told me just to go out and enjoy myself in the lead. He told me I had done all the hard work to get to the front. Adam’s been a very big help to me”

ends
Lee, beaten by Dean Robertson in a play-off for the title last year, birdied the last three holes with putts of 20ft, 40ft and 15ft for a 71 and 291.
Cairns birdied the first three holes to achieve his highest ever finish in a four-round event with a 71 for the same one-under-par total.
Cairns got on terms with leader Loftus at two-under-par after 13 holes after birdieing the 11th and 12th but his challenge was blunted when he was plugged in a fairway bunker at the 15th and missed a 10ft putt that would have saved par.
Halfway leader David Orr (East Renfrewshire), Loftus’s closest rival at the start of the final day, had a repeat of his third-round 76 and tied for fourth place with David Patrick (Mortonhall) on 292.
Patrick, a member of the Walker Cup-winning GB&I team at Nairn in 1999, made up three strokes on Loftus to share the lead at three under par overall after 10 holes. But he leaked shots to par at the 11th, 13th and 15th – so easily done in conditions that had the rain running down the nearby gutters in torrents.
GREIG'S GOOD FINISH
Peterculter's Greig Hutcheon, joint third in the event 12 months ago, finishing strongly with a 70 - only Scott Morrison (Glenbervie) matched that three-under-par score - for 293 to earn a £2,2000 prize for sixth place.
And Hutcheon's round included a double-bogey 6 at the seventh. Earlier he had birdied the second, third and fifth to give himself the kind of start that had escape him over the first three rounds.
Coming home, Greig birdied the 12th, 14th and 16th and dropped only one more shot, at the 15th.
Northern Open champion Murray Urquhart from Inverness again showed that he needs three or four rounds to utilise his golfing stamina to the full. His final round of 71 pulled him up through the field into a share of ninth place on 293, earning him a cheque fore £1,117.
First round leader Graeme McInnes (Murcar Links) had a closing 77 for 304 and a share of 29th place.
Graeme Lornie (Aspire), who is having his swing remodelled by Adam Hunter and knows he has to be patient in waiting for the good scores to come, played well in the awful conditions for his last round of 71, easily his best of the four, for a share of 39th place on 307.