Joe Bryce claimed his first Order of Merit title on the Arnold Clark Tartan Tour with a slender victory in the Hilton Park 36-hole Challenge.
The 27-year-old, who was pipped in a play-off to last season's Northern Open, strung together rounds of 67 and 64 for an eight-under aggregate and won by a single shot from Chris Maclean and Gavin Hay.
Bryce’s opening two-under card on the Allander course featured a spirited salvage operation as he rallied from a triple-bogey on the 11th and a bogey on the 12th with a trio of birdies coming home.
He was still three behind the joint leaders, Hay and Jordan Sundborg, going into the final day over the Hilton course but he set about his task with purpose.
Three-under to the turn, Bryce made further gains on the 10th and 12th before striking a telling blow on the par-five 16th where he two-putted for birdie from 20-feet.
That set the target and Bryce could only twiddle his thumbs in the clubhouse and wait to see if it would be good enough.
Maclean made a valiant effort to reel him in with two birdies on his last four holes but his 66 left him a shot shy.
Hay, meanwhile, birdied the 16th to get to within a stroke but he couldn’t winkle out another birdie to draw level and had to settle for the joint runners-up spot.
“I'm absolutely delighted,” said Bryce, who was a runner-up in the Scottish Young Professionals’ Championship in 2022. “I had that wee blip on day one but overall it’s been two solid days of golf.
“No bogeys on the final day was very pleasing. I knew I had to get my nose in front on the 16th as I was checking the scores of the groups behind me.
“I’ve been knocking on the door of an Order of Merit win so it’s nice to make a breakthrough.”
Bryce will now turn his attention to final qualifying for The Open after a T3 finish in an 18-hole shoot-out at Craiglaw.
“The Open is always a dream and I’m looking forward to giving it another go,” added Bryce, who has made it through to the final qualifying stage twice before.
Hilton Park provided a perfect stage for the PGA in Scotland’s latest Order of Merit tussle and Andrew McIntyre, the general manager of the Milngavie club, was delighted with two days of keenly contested competition.
He said: “It’s been nice to see The PGA pros tackle both the courses in tournament conditions. I think the members have enjoyed having an event here and following some very good golf.
“We’ve held a few assistants’ events here, but it’s been a real pleasure to host an Order of Merit event. The professional course record is, I believe, seven-under so Joe put in an excellent effort.”
