Greig Hutcheon wins Deer Park Masters by three strokes

Hutcheon cannot explain why he keeps winning the Emtec Group Deer Park Masters!

Greig Hutcheon says his form over the years at the 2018 Emtec Group Deer Park Masters is ‘inexplicable’ after capturing his sixth win in the Tartan Tour Order of Merit event at Livingston.

Hutcheon, who is based at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre in Aberdeen, followed up his first-round 67 with a four-under-par 68 to finish top of the leaderboard and earn the top cash prize of £2,688.
 He also had to contend with the high quality golf of his fellow pros as North Lanarkshire Leisure’s Paul O’Hara was forced to settle for second place, while defending champion Gavin Hay carded the round of the second day with a six-under-par 66.

 “To win here for the sixth time is just inexplicable,” said Hutcheon. “The thing that’s becoming apparent to me out on the golf course is the breaks I’m getting and the putts I’m holing at key moments and I can’t explain why I always perform so well at Deer Park.

“I still go back to the first round I ever played here and I shot the course record. It’s all just snowballed from that. I’ve got good memories on almost every hole and that puts you in a fantastic place to challenge out on the golf course.

“I got off to such a great start. I drove the first and managed to roll the putt in for an eagle from 25 feet. I was getting the lucky breaks when I needed them and those are the things that make the difference.”

This year marked the 15^th staging of the event at Deer Park Golf and Country Club in Livingston with a total of 50 PGA professionals and 300 amateurs taking part over the two days.

“I can’t explain why I win here so often,” continued the Banchory pro. “There’s something about me and Deer Park. I’ve been coming here for the last ten years and I’ve never played so consistently well at one course over the years. I’m just waiting to come here one day and shoot 85. It will happen and I’ll take it no bother because I’ve had so many good days here.

“Deer Park is a very good course and I think it’s under-rated in Scotland. It moves left to right, it moves right to left, it has some undulation changes, it’s a really good course and the condition of it just keeps getting better with the work that’s going on every year.

"It copes really well when it rains heavily now, which it hadn’t necessarily done in the past. The greens were great across both days and I can’t wait to come back in 2019”

FINAL TOTALS
par 144 (2x72)

135 G Hutcheon (Paul Lawrie GC) 67 68 (£2,688).

138 P O'Hara (N Lanarkshire Leisure) 69 69 (£1,848).

140 G Hay (Mearns Castle) 74 66, Z Saltman (Winterfield) 71 69, C Ronald (Carluke) 73 67 (£1,074 each).

141 I Graham (Crow Wood) 778 66, C Kelly (Scotland for Golf) 73 71, N Fenwick (Dunbar) 71 73

142 T Higson (Gleneagles Hotel) 71 71, A Forsyth (Mearns Castle) 72 70, R Arnott (Bishopbriggs) 72 70.

143 R Munro (Duddingston) 71 72, G Wright (West Linton) 70 73

144 P McKenna (Portlethen) 78 66, C Kelly (Scotland for Golf) 73 71, N Fenwick (Dunbar) 71 73.
145 P McKechnie (Braid Hills) 74 71.
146 C Currie (Erskine) 70 76, K Nicol (Dunes Golf Centre) 73 73.
147 C Marr (Musselburgh) 76 71, C Nairn (Prestwick St Nicholas) 79 68, G McDougall (Elie Links) 75 72, J Steven (Pumpherston) 74 73, S O'Hara (N Lanarkshire Leisure) 74 73.
148 C McMaster (Downfield) 77 71, R Cameron (unatt) 78 70, J McGhee (Swanston New) 72 76, M Owenson (Gullane) 71 77.
149 J McCreadie (Largs) 75 74, S Houlden (East Kilbride) 77 72
150 A Welsh (Cathkin Braes) 76 74, K Zeynalov (Portlthen) 78 72, R Tinker (Piperdam) 75 75
152 A Treasurer (Loch Ness) 79 73, S Henderson (Kings Links) 79 73, S Gray (Lanark) 73 79.
153 D Lee (American Golf) 77 76, N Cameron (Blarigowrie) 78 75, F Rummins (Canmore) 74 79.
154 D Nicol (DundonaldLinks) 77 77
155 S Grant (Scotscraig) 80 75, M O'Donnell (Stirling) 76 79, R Leeds (Archerfield Links) 79 76, R McConnachie (Peterculter) 79 76.
156 I Stoddart (Deer Park) 75 81, C Imlah (Craigielaw) 77 79
157 F McKenna (Caldwell) 75 82, M Kanev (Lochgelly) 79 78.
158 G Paxton (Ralston) 78 80.
164 A McHardy (Noah's Ark) 88 76.