Scottish Young Professionals Championship at West Lothian GC

2013 champion Paul O'Hara leads  despite a 

quadruple bogey 8

Paul O'Hara (Clydeway Golf) has made a solid start in his bid to regain  the Scottish Young Professionals Championship he last won in 2013.
In this week's 72-hole tournament at West Lothian Golf Club, Bo'ness, O'Hara teed off  with a tournament-leading round of four-under-par 67 today.

Astonishingly, O'Hara is in the pole position in a field of 75 players after the first of four rounds despite a quadruple bogey 8 at 16th hole.

Paul (pictured) had an eagle 3 at the 12th and birdies at the third, fourth, fifth, eighth, 14th and 17th in halves of four-under 32 and level par 35.

The quadruple were the only shots he dropped all day.

O'Hara could have been several strokes clear going into the second round but the fact that he is only a shot ahead of Steven Maxwell (Eastwood) and Ross Munro (Duddingston), and two in front of three players on the 69 mark, Michael Mackenzie (Edzell), Sam McLaren (Blairgowrie) and Colin Robinson (Elie Links) but not be good for Paul but it is for the competitiveness of the championship.

Maxwell, Munro and Robinson all came back in 31, jointly the lowest inward halves of the day. Robinson had a birdie 3 at the hole which cost O'Hara 8 and the Elie Links man surged into the leading six overnight with birdies at the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th.
Title-holder Gavin Hay (Nairn Dunbar) is under pressure to make the cut after opening with a seven-over-par 78
There will be a cut after the second round with the qualifiers playing two rounds on the final day.

ALL THE FIRST-ROUND SCORES

Par 71

67 P O'Hara (Clydeway Golf)

68 S Maxwell (Eastwood), R Munro (Duddingston)

69 M Mackenzie (Edzell), S McLaren (Blairgowrie), C Robinson (Elie Links).

70 L Gaughan (Bathgate), K McNicoll (Gullane), A Welsh (Cathkin Braes).

71 P Mitchell (Stirling), R Clarke (Gamola Golf), C Goodwin (Duff House Royal), J Gallagher (Douglas Park).

72 N Cameron (Blairgowrie), M Penny (Montrose Links), T Dingwall (Kemnay), J Treasurer (Loch Ness), S Craigon (Balbirnie Park).

73 S Binning (Mearns Castle), C Marr (MusselC Aburgh), K Moran (Balbirnie Park), S Watters (Balbirnie Park), G Paterson (St Andrews Links GA), C Farrell (Cardross), S Fay (Royal Dornoch).

74 S Milne (Balbirnie Park), D Flannery (Caldwell), R Tinker (Piperdam), F Robertson (Lundin), J Bell (Craigmillar Park).

75 C Armstrong (Burntisland), J Fraser (Renaissance), C Porciani (Turnberry Hotel)

76 S Speirs (Swanston New), F Cramb (Crieff), M Kaney (Bruntsfield Links), I Anderson (Colville Park), F Thomson (Turnberry Hotel), G Forbes (Mar Hall), C Beveridge (West Kilbride), A Hutcheson (Douglas Park)

77 G Wright (Ladybank), J Dick (Duddingston), R Black (Inverness), C Billows (Gleneagles), Ailsa Bain (Gullane), P  Whelan (Bathgate), R Mitchell (Paul Lawrie GC), J Thorburn (Kingsbarns), Helen Searle (Gailes G and L), D Stein (Ranfurly Castle).

78 D Thorburn (Braid Hills), B Harvey (Glasgow), G Hay (Nairn Dunbar), R Mackenzie-Smith (Carnegie Club)

79 J Brown (Dumfries and Co), S Smith (Scotscrag)

80 A Todd (Downfield), R Stirling (Lanark), M Thomson (Panmure), C Fountain (Buchanan Castle), Kirstin Scott (Gleneagles).

81 D Ramsay (Mory), S Costello (Strathaven), D Lee (unatt), R King (Carrick on Loch Lomond), R Miller (Kings Acre), M Patterson (Cruden Bay), S Wilson (Carrick on Loch Lomond).

82 R Delaney (unatt), D Swinley (Prestonfield)

83 A Todd (Prestwick), C Dick (Royal Burgess)

86 K Cooney (Kingsbarns), Nichola Ferguson (American Golf)