STEPHEN GRAY FAVOURITE TO LAND FIRST SCOTTISH PRO TITLE

FROM: RON MARSHALL, PRESS OFFICER, SCOTTISH REGION PGA.
The most improved player on the Tartan Tour this year has to be Hayston’s Stephen Gray, and whether he likes it or not, he tees up this morning as favourite in the £50,000 Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship over the King’s Course at the Perthshire venue.
Gray, a PGA member for 15 years, all of that time spent attached to the Kirkintilloch club, leads the Tartan Tour on two counts – their Order of Merit and the Money List, the latter around £32,000. He finished tied 15th in the Gleneagles championship a year ago, but as the season has unfolded the burly Gray has picked up the top cheques at the Aberdeen Asset Northern Open and the Kerr Investments 36-holer.
“I know what’s up for grabs this week, but you can’t get too ahead of yourself”, said Gray (pictured). “You’ve just got to go and play the game, and if you don’t get the basics right, then the clever stuff’s hard to find.”
Victory in the Scottish Region’s flagship event has eluded him over the years. That gap in his CV he would love to fill, and his coach for the past four years, Lanark pro Alan White, certainly has every faith in him.
“Maybe some of my other players might object but Stevie is the hardest worker I’ve ever coached. He’s knows he’s the favourite. All he has to do now is buckle down and win.”
Eight previous champions are in the line-up of 69 players, but holder Chris Doak, is pursuing Challenge Tour success this week in Rome, as is Craig Lee.
Among the most determined challengers for the Gleneagles title should be 1999 champion, Greig Hutcheon from Banchory.
Having missed out by a single stroke at the first stage of the European Tour’s qualifying school, the Aberdeenshire pro is determined to end an otherwise successful year on a high.
Others knocking at the door could be Gareth Wright, who lost only after a play-off last year, Paul McKechnie, Chris Kelly, David Patrick, Scott Henderson, and Alan Lockhart, who, incidentally, along with Wright, were the only two players a year ago to have four rounds in the 60s.
The championship is being played over the King’s Course for only the second time, having moved there last year.
Bernard Murphy, general manager of the five-star resort, said: ‘We’re fortunate to have three championship courses, and were delighted to be able to reintroduce championship golf to the King’s last year. Its history and tradition are such that it deserves to be associated with the showpiece event on the Tartan Tour.”

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