Scott Catlin, standing, and Michael Carrigan (image by Andy Forman).

It's all happening for Scott Catlin! Now Turkish
delight for Greenburn pro & Michael Carrigan

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY PGA
A West Lothian golf pro has secured an early birthday present of a place in a European final.
Greenburn pro Scott Catlin, who turns 34 next week, swept to a two-shot victory with the aid of amateur partner Michael Carrigan in the Scottish regional final of the PGA National Pro-Am Championship at Lanark today.
The duo compiled an unbeatable nine-under-par tally to deny home pro Grant Robertson and his partner, Jamie Lamb, an all-expenses-paid trip to the grand final at the Sirene Beach & Hotel Resort and Antalya Golf Club on the Turkish Riviera.
The victory caps a hectic couple of weeks for Catlin as he arrived at the event 24 hours after competing at the Scottish PGA Championship at Gleneagles and only two weeks after becoming a father for the second time with the birth of son Rhys.
"It's my birthday next week and we've just had a wee baby two weeks ago, so winning this is just brilliant. It's been a brilliant two weeks," said Catlin.
"It's been golf all week, having played 72 holes at Gleneagles and then coming here to play this. I don't feel too bad though there have been a few long days as I've been getting up at 5.30am with the baby before going off to play golf."
But there were no baby blues to banish at Lanark as Catlin found the course very much to his liking after four days at Gleneagles, where he finished 31st.
"Gleneagles was really, really tight, so coming here the course seemed really open and it seemed a lot easier with the driver.
"I fell away on the last day at Gleneagles but got everything going right again here and I'm thrilled because one of the members has been to the venue in Turkey and says it's the best course he's ever played.
"We started well and Mike played well throughout, coming in with some scores during the round."
A combination of nine birdies and nine pars did the job for the duo, four of the scores in the opening five holes to set them on a winning march.
Amateur Carrigan, a 39-year-old taxi driver from Motherwell, revealed he wasn't even aware he was playing until last week.
"I didn't know I'd qualified to play in this until Scott called me about it," said the 15- handicapper.
"I'd just thought I'd won the monthly medal, which was back in April, and thought nothing more of it. Now I'm feeling brilliant as I've never won anything significant. I'dnever played with Scott before this but it worked out brilliantly. I played OK and when I did have a bad hole Scott was there."
The winning pair will compete against 15 other regional finalists during the expenses-paid five-day, five-star trip to the Sirene Beach & Hotel Resort on Turkey's Mediterranean Coast from November 30 to December 4.
The tournament, which attracts more than 100,000 entries, is now in its 24th staging and has been held in Portugal, Spain, Grand Bahamas and Sardinia prior to Turkey last year.

Regional Final
Lanark Golf Club
1 61 (-9) Scott Catlin & Michael Carrigan (15) Greenburn.
2 63 (-7) Grant Robertson & Jamie Lamb (2) Lanark.
3 64 (-6) Jacky Montgomery & Peter Burnett (12) Dunbar.
4= 65 (-5) Alasdair Good & Erick Davidson (12) Gullane.
4= 65 (-5) Gordon Law & Patrick Brady (19) Uphall.
4= 65 (-5) Paul Terras & Craig Manuel (4) Goswick
7= 66 (-4) Ian Taylor & John Guzik (7) Drumpellier.
7= 66 (-4) Gary McFarlane & Phil Murphy (19) Clober.

Full results from the event at Lanark can be found under 'Schedule,Scores and Results' at http://www.pga.info/PGANationalProAmChampionship.aspx