Jamie McLeary still on a roll in Finland

By GORDON SIMPSON of the European Tour Media Staff
Scotland’s Jamie McLeary sustained his hot streak of form in Finland today when he blitzed Linna Golf’s back nine in 32 shots to force his way into the frame for back to back wins on the European Challenge Tour.
McLeary, who closed with a 68 to win the Scottish Hydro Challenge at Aviemoreon Sunday, opened his account in the SK Golf Challenge with an identical score to sit two behind local hero Antti Ahokas and Welshman Rhys Davies after the first day.
The 28 year old moved from 57th to 11th on the Challenge Tour Rankings after that victory and now has his sights trained even higher after another high class performance.
“I would say that I played better today than at any time last week” he said. “The course is perfect – not a blade of grass out of place – but you get in trouble if you don’t play well off the tee. Fortunately that was one of the strengths of my game. I actually hit 13 out of 14 fairways and that helped me construct a decent round.”
Winning €32,000 in his native Scotland has helped the McLeary budget enormously for the remainder of the season. He added: “That win took so much pressure off me. In the past I worried about making the cut and looking after every penny, but I arrived this week feeling that I am playing to win, not just to hang around for the weekend.”
Andrew McArthur, currently 30th on the Rankings, opened up with a solid 70 and admitted: “It was a steady rather than spectacular round. I was going along nicely on Sunday before taking a ten in the last round in Aviemore but I’ve managed to put that behind me.
“Hopefully I can get closer this week and work towards me aim of being in the top ten in the Rankings at the end of the year.”
Fellow Scots Peter Whiteford and Raymond Russell both carded one under par 71s.

FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 72
66 A Ahokas (Fin) , R Davies (Wal) ,
67 J Olesen (Den) ,
68 J McLeary (Sco) ,
69 J Clément (Sui) , S Surry (Eng) , O Floren (Swe) , M Ilonen (Fin) , A Zanini (Ita) ,
70 B Evans (Eng) , G Murray (Sco) , A McArthur (Sco) , G Houston (Wal) , N Lemke (Swe) , R Santos (Por) , C Gane (Eng) , T Dykes (Wal) , N Colsaerts (Bel) , I Pyman (Eng) , G Boyd (Eng) , Z Scotland (Eng) , J Lima (Por) ,
71 R Coles (Eng) , R Kakko (Fin) , J Larsen (Nor) , J Abbate (Arg) , F Praegant (Aut) , J Sandelin (Swe) , J Arruti (Esp) , P Whiteford (Sco) , R Russell (Sco) , B Mason (Eng) , M Tullo (Chi) , J Guerrier (Fra) , R McEvoy (Eng) , C Carranza (Arg) , J Kaske (am) (Fin) ,
72 A Bernadet (Fra) , J Granberg (Fin) , M Zions (Aus) , E Molinari (Ita) , A Tampion (Aus) , P Erofejeff (Fin) , S Jamieson (Sco) , G Adell (Swe) , R Steiner (Aut) , P Baker (Eng) , L Matthews (Wal) , J Morrison (Eng) , A Marshall (Eng) , I Giner (Esp) , E Ramsay (Sco) , M Higley (Eng) , D Nouailhac (Fra) , Å Nilsson (Swe) , A Rocha (Bra) , S Manley (Wal) ,
73 F Calmels (Fra) , J Moul (Eng) , G Molteni (Ita) , T Whitehouse (Eng) , J Quesne (Fra) , J Parry (Eng) , A Bossert (Sui) , F Colombo (Ita) , M Korhonen (Fin) , C Moriarty (Irl) , N Meitinger (Ger) , K Edberg (Swe) , M Wiegele (Aut) , C Günther (Ger) , M Reale (Ita) , M McGeady (Irl) , A Perrino (Ita) , L Saltman (Sco) , J Ruebotham (Eng) , V Riu (Fra) , R Karlberg (Swe) ,
74 J Bjerhag (Swe) , P Golding (Eng) , P Purhonen (Fin) , P Gustafsson (Swe) , L Kennedy (Eng) , J Grillon (Fra) , K Hallgren (Swe) , C Suneson (Esp) , L Bond (Wal) , A Sjöstrand (Swe) , M Ervasti (Fin) , R De Sousa (Sui) , M Haastrup (Den) , R Treis (Ger) , A Högberg (Swe) , L Gagli (Ita) , P Relecom (Bel) ,
75 S Robinson (Eng) , T Cruz (Por) , N Vanhootegem (Bel) , N Smith (USA) , J Garcia Pinto (Esp) , K Jorgensen (Den) , J Wahlqvist (Swe) , T Sundström (Fin) , J Mommo (Fin) , S Jeppesen (Swe) , L Johansson (Swe) , P Bocian (Swe) , D Denison (Eng) , C Rodiles (Esp) , B Miarka (Ger) , R Saxton (Ned) ,
76 I Garcia Avis (Esp) , B Wiesberger (Aut) , T Karjalainen (Fin) , A Bruschi (Ita) , A Wagner (Arg) , D Hewan (RSA) , C Smith (Wal) , J Sjöholm (Swe) , M Larsson (Swe) , T Tuovinen (Fin) , A Hansen (Den) , F Svanberg (Sui) , O Suhr (Den) , D Griffiths (Eng) , A Willey (Eng) , K Samooja (am) (Fin) , T Pulkkanen (am) (Fin) ,
77 C Brazillier (Fra) , L Brovold (Nor) , M Delpodio (Ita) , B Pettersson (Swe) , S Garcia-Grout (Esp) , K Sullivan (Wal) , G Paddison (Nzl) , J Ruth (Eng) , T Hakula (am) (Fin) ,
78 L James (Eng) , A Butterfield (Eng) , R Swane (Ned) , D Küpper (Ger) , M Veijalainen (am) (Fin) ,
79 D Sugrue (Irl) , P Barth (Swe) ,
80 J Thureson (Swe) , S Reale (Ita) , T Pollari (Fin) , J Person (Pol) , M Pilkington (Wal) , T Laitto (Fin) ,
81 C Russo (Fra) ,
82 M Kramer (Ger) , S Grant (Irl) ,
83 B Clayton (Eng) ,
84 A Murtovaara (am) (Fin) ,
86 M Stelmasiak (Pol) ,

SCOREBOARD TO COME