NORTHERN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Craig Lee pulls away from field

to win by five strokes

Craig Lee used his desperate need for the £2,500 first prize to motivate himself to power away from the field over the fourth and final round of the 71st Northern Open championship over the majestic Spey Valley course at Aviemore in the Highlands.

The event was unsponsored this year which meant the normal top award dropped from £8,000 but Lee, pictured right, has still won enough to finance a return to the German mini-tour where he is the Order of Merit winner, a position which if maintained will gain the 32-year-old from Stirling automatic entry to the Challenge Tour.

Lee, who is himself unsponsored and has no playing attachment, returned scores of 72, 68, 73 and 68 for a seven-under-par total, finishing five strokes clear of Englishman Martyn Hamer from Ellesmere. Martin's rounds were 74, 70, 70 and 72.

Haymer could conjure up no birdies on his final nine holes after going out in 34. But he and the winner were the only players to finish under par for the four rounds.

Compatriot Steven Parry finished third on 288 with scores of 75, 74, 67 and 72. That morning 67 including the lowest outward nine holes of the week - six-under-par 30 - but he required 36 shots for the same stretch on the final circuit so was unable to mount a challenge to Lee.

Craig birdied the first, second, third and fifth in the fourth round to put daylight between himself and the field. A bogey at the seventh was cancelled out by a birdie at the ninth in 32 to the turn - two shots better than he had achieved in any previous round.

Lee continued to look different class - perhaps even European Tour class, from which he slipped at the end of last season - with birdies at the 13th and 15th, sixth and seventh of his round.

Craig first came to forefront in boys' golf, winning the 1993 Scottish boys' open stroke-play championship at Arbroath. He then marked his development as a pro by winning the Tartan Tour's Young Professionals' title at Spey Bay in 2000. Three years ago he won the PGAs of European individual title with a record low total in Spain.

FINAL TOTALS

Par 288 (4x72) Yardage: 7,118

281 Craig Lee (unatt) 72 68 73 68.

286 Martyn Hamer (Ellesmere) 74 70 70 72.

288 Steven Parry (unatt) 75 74 67 72.

289 David Orr (East Renfrewshire) 71 75 71 72, Sean Doherty (Bury) 70 72 73 74, Mark King (unatt) 70 71 73 75.

290 Craig Ronald (Carluke) 74 73 70 73, Stephen Gray (Hayston) 72 71 75 72.

291 Paul Wardell (Whitekirk) 78 71 67 75, Colin Gillies (Perry Golf) 77 70 73 71, Robert Arnott (Bishopbriggs) 74 72 71 74, Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst) 71 73 76 71.

293 Steven Taylor (Bothwell Castle) 78 74 71 70, Lindsay Mann (Carnoustie) 79 70 72 72, Ross Cameron (McDonald Ellon) 73 72 73 75.

294 Gordon Sherry (Kilmarnock Barassie) 78 73 69 74, David Patrick (Elie) 76 75 73 70, Christopher Hanson (unatt) 78 72 71 73, Mark King (Kingsfield) 77 71 71 75, Mark Barnard (Inchmarlo) 73 74 72 75, Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills) 72 74 75 73.

296 Edward Thomson (Senit Associates) 70 76 79 71.

297 Graham Fox (East Kilbride) 75 76 70 76, Kenneth Hutton (Downfield) 76 75 74 72, Stuart Pardoe (Scottish Golf Centre) 73 75 79 70, Fraser Mann (Musselburgh) 76 72 72 77.

298 Alan Lockhart (Ladybank) 75 77 72 74, Scott Henderson (Kings Links) 79 71 72 76, James McKinnon (Irvine) 73 77 74 74.

299 Samuel Cairns (Colville Park) 76 75 72 76, Graeme Lornie (Paul Lawrie Foundation) 80 71 73 75.

300 Callum Nicoll (Prestwick) 78 72 79 71, Jonathan Lomas (unatt) 78 71 72 79, Steven Duncan(Balbirnie Park) 78 70 72 80.

302 Alastair Mackenzie (Duddingston) 83 68 73 78.

303 Ian Graham (Crow Wood) 75 77 75 76, Neil Fenwick (Dunbar) 76 70 77 80.

304 James McGhee (Turnhouse0 73 79 75 77.

307 Gordon Law (Uphall) 75 76 77 79, Ken Campbell (Machrihanish) 75 75 76 81.

310 Steven Brown (Carnoustie GL) 74 77 77 82.

311 Jonas Hedberg (Royal Aberdeen) 76 74 80 81.