Paul O'Hara leads by four with a 62 at West

Linton with bag of eight birdies

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Paul O'Hara shot a brilliant round of seven-under-par 62 to establish a four-stroke lead over the field at the halfway stage of the St Andrews Brewing 36-hole Order of Merit professional tournament at West Linton Golf Club in the Borders.

The North Lanarkshire Leisure man, pictured, had eight birdies and one bogey in halves of 32 and 30. His gains came at the second, fourth, seventh, eighth, 10th, 13th, 15th and 16th. His one bogey was at the sixth.
O'Hara led by five until near the end of the round when Ralston's Greg Paxton came in with a 66 (35-31), birdieing the 13th, 14th and 15th to boost his bag of birdies for the day to five.
Five players are sharing third place on 67, including Gareth Wright playing over his home course, but O'Hara will take some catching over Tuesday's second round.
FIRST ROUND
Par 69
62 P O'Hara (North Lanarkshire Leisure).
66 G Paxton (Ralston).
67 N Fenwick (Dunbar), G Wright (West Linton), G Fox (Clydeway Golf), A Forsyth (Mearns Castle), G Hutcheon (PLGC Inchmarlo).
68 S Morrison (Tain), S Gray (Lanark), C Kelly (Stirling), F McKenna (Caldwell), C Sutherland (Cherry Lodge), C Currie (Caldwell), G Hay (Grantown on Spey).
69 R Leeds (Archerfield Links), G Forbes (Mar Hall), I Graham (Crow Wood), J Lamb (Royal Burgess).
70 J Cliff (Murrayfield), J Lomas (Caprington), C Goodwin (Braid Hills), K McNicoll (Carnoustie),T Higson (Gleneagles), J McGhee (Swanston New).
71 K McNicoll (Carnoustie), R Munro (Duddingston), R Arnott (Bishipbriggs), C Ronald (Carluke), J McCreadie (Largs), R McConnachie (Peterculter), I Anderson (Colville Park), K Hutton (Downfield), D Stein (Ranfurly Castle).
72 S Gillies (North Berwick), S O'Hara (North Lanarkshire Leisure), S Savage (Dalmuir), C Doak (unatt).
73 C Marr (Musselburgh), J Fraser (Renaissance Club), C Matheson (Falkirk Tryst), A Welsh (Cathkin Braes), M Mackenzie (Edzell), D Lee (American Golf), C Curran (Bathgate).
74 E Bowden (North Berwick), S Ross (Turnhouse), M Kerr (Lane Golf Tours), A Reid (West Lothian).
75 P Robinson (Largs), N Huguet (Musselburgh), S Henderson (Kings Links), S Binning (Mearns Castle), K Zeynalov (Portlethen).
76 S Griffiths (Dunes), C Goodwin (Strathlene).
77 A Hutchison (Douglas Park), P Jamieson (Dunblane).
78 C McMaster (Downfield), J Dick (Duddingston)
79 R Tinker (Piperdam), J Erskine (Dumfries and Co), M Patterson (Kilmacolm).
80 M Loftus (Caldwell), P McKenna (Paul Lawrie GC), R Harrower (Boat of Garten).






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