McKechnie's good start in chase for £10,000 

prize at Mar Hall, Bishopton

A four-birdie, bogey-free round of 66 by Paul McKechnie has the Braid Hills man in joint fourth place in the chase for the £10,000 first prize in the Glenfarclas Open, this week's PGA EuroPro Tour 54-hole tournament at Mar Hall, Bishopton to the west of Glasgow.

 LEADING SCORES

FIRST ROUND

Par 70

64 A Rai (Eng)

65 A Wootton (Eng), C Hinton (Eng)

66 H McCullen (Eng), P McKechnie (Braid Hills), G Wright (West Linton),

OTHER SCOTS' SCORES

68 G Forbes, G McBain, N Fenwick, L Saltman )T7)

69 M Stewart, C Currie, Z Saltman (T18).

70 P Doherty, D Kay, R Cameron, S Crichton, S Binning, Shaun McAllister (T34)

71 M Hillson, P Shields, C Doak (T54)

72 G Hay (T72)

73 M Patterson, K Duncan, C O'Neil, S Kiloh (T90)

74 F McKenna, J Steven, N Henderson, P Robinson, P McLean, S Borrowman (T109)

75 K Nicol, J Findlay (T122)

76 G O'Neill, A Forsyth (T129)

77 C Macaulay, M Isaacs, I Redford (T139).

78 R Colsh, C Lawrie, J Duff, C Smith (T149)

79 R Bell (T157).

 

Wolverhampton man sets pace wth

 

 six-under 64 at Mar Hall

By NICK TEALE

Wolverhampton-based Aaron Rai leads The Glenfarclas Open by one shot after carding a six-under-par 64 for his opening round in the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour event at Mar Hall Golf and Spa Resort near Glasgow..

Adam Wootton and Craig Hinton, both from Oxfordshire, share second on five-under-par while Paul McKechnie is the leading Scot, sat among the trio of players on four under.

Rai (DCD Group) started his first 18 on the 10^th tee of the Earl of Mar Golf Course. A par there was followed by a birdie at 11 and an eagle at the 15^th. At 16 he moved four under with a three and further birdies followed at 2 and 3. 

He avoided the dangers posed by the remaining holes to return to the clubhouse six under par with a 64.

All six of the players four under or better started their first round at the 10^th. Hinton (LJD Technology Services) was five under at the turn after birdies at 13, 17 and 18 and like Rai he eagled the 15^th.

He went further below the card with a birdie at 3, but fell back when he double-bogeyed the 4^th. A birdie at 7 saw him return to five under, where he concluded the round.

Wootton (Oxford Golf Centre) ended his first nine with three birdies on the last four holes, a par at 17 sandwiched between birdies at 15, 16 and 18 to see him turn three under. 

 Another birdie came at the 1^st before three pars and birdies at 5 and 6. He dropped a shot at 7 but claimed a share of second when he made three down the 8^th. 

Haydn McCullen (Delamare Forest), Gareth Wright (West Linton Golf Club) and McKechnie (Braid Hills Golf Centre) share fourth on four under, two behind leader Rai. There are 11 golfers a further two back in seventh, including Marcus Armitage, who won at Cumberwell Park last month and Mar Hall representative Graham Forbes.

Neil Fenwick (Dunbar Golf Club), Greb McBain (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) and Lloyd Saltman (Archerfield Links golf Club) are the other Scottish players at two-under-par.

The Glenfarclas Open is a 54-hole stroke-play event with a cut to the leading 50 players plus ties to be made after Thursday’s second round.

 The final round will be filmed for a two-hour highlights show to be aired on Sky Sports on Tuesday, July 28. Spectator entry is free throughout and live scoring can be found at www.europrotour.com.