Stuart Easton set a brisk early pace during the first round of the Ramsdens Currency Scottish PGA Championship at Scotscraig.
On an opening day disrupted by a brief suspension of play due to the threat of a thunderstorm, Easton got himself home and dry with a fine eight-under-under 63 to finish a stroke clear of Tartan Tour grandee, Stephen Gray.
One-over through his first five holes, Irvine pro Easton moved up through the gears with a trio of birdies towards the turn and he kept his foot to the floor on the back nine with four birdies and an eagle during a terrific inward half of 30.
“I’ve had days like this during the season where I’ve hit it close but the difference today was that I converted the chances,” said Easton, who made a bold up-and-down from 160 yards on the 11th to save his par and keep the momentum going.
“The greens were rolling superbly so if you hit a decent putt you had a good chance.
“Overall, I’d rate my season so far as a B-minus. I’ve been striking the ball very well but haven’t put it all together. Today I did and it showed I have the game to contend.”
Gray (pictured), the Easter Moffat veteran, got himself up-and-running with a brace of birdies on his first two holes and the 51-year-old added five more in a neatly assembled seven-under 64.
“I hit it to an inch on the first for birdie and then holed a 20-footer on the second, so we got off to a flyer,” said Gray, who has been playing in the Scottish PGA Championship since the late 1990s but has never finished higher than seventh.
“This is my best round of the season. I’ve holed nothing all year, but they all came in one round today.”
The early marker on the opening day was set by Scott Herald, who used his local knowledge to good effect and posted a six-under 65.
Herald, a teaching pro at the nearby St Andrews Links, may be lightly raced on the competitive front but his familiarity with the Scotscraig track aided his early assault.
Level-par through seven holes, Herald upped the ante around the turn with three birdies in a row from the eighth. The 38-year-old bolstered his card with an eagle on the 16th before he trundled in a raking birdie putt of some 60-feet on the 18th to finish with a flourish.
“I’m not playing a lot, but I have good vibes here, I know the course well and that made me very comfortable,” said Herald, who played two rounds in the 150th Open at St Andrews in 2022 as a marker.
“I made a good up and down on the first for my par and that settled me down. After that, I think I missed only one green. It was a good round.”
The last time Herald played in the Scottish PGA Championship was in 2022 at West Kilbride. His challenge came to a premature end but for a very good reason.
“I shot three-under in round one but then had to withdraw as my wife gave birth to our first child that same night,” he added with a smile. “We are expecting another one, but not this week.”
Aberdeen veteran Scott Henderson conjured a rousing late charge and birdied five of his closing six holes to join Herald on the six-under mark
“You just have to play smart golf and avoid those bunkers,” said the 55-year-old of the Scotscraig examination.
Henderson was runner-up in the 2003 Scottish PGA Championship and let a six-stroke lead slip in the final round the previous year.
“That one hurt,” he reflected. “I’ve never won this before, and it would be a nice one to get after all these years.”
Gleneagles pro Fraser Hughes packed eight birdies into his 65 while Jordan Sundborg, the 2024 Scottish Young Professionals’ champion, made a telling surge for the line and reeled off five birdies in a row from the 13th in a five-under 66.
The catalyst for that profitable birdie blitz was provided by the setback of a bogey on the 12th.
“I missed a three-footer there, but that frustration seemed to get me going,” he said of his late rally.
Sundborg was joined on the five-under mark by the 2019 champion, Paul O’Hara, who was bogey-free in a tidy round.
“It was a pretty boring round, but I’ll take that any day,” said O’Hara, who played in last week’s British Masters on the DP World Tour. “I took advantage of the par-fives and birdied all three of them.”
To follow the live scoring from Scotscraig, click here.
