Paul O’Hara got off the mark in 2023 with his first win of the new season in the Balmore 36-hole Order of Merit Challenge.
The 36-year-old, who has been the dominant force on the Arnold Clark Tartan Tour in recent years, reeled off rounds of 64 and 63 for a five-under aggregate of 127 and won by three shots from Gareth Hardy and Scottish PGA champion Alastair Forsyth.
O’Hara had been sharing the lead overnight with Chris Currie. As Currie slithered out of the running with a 70 on day two, however, O’Hara cemented his place at the top with a four birdie round that gave him the first prize of £1250.
With a second and a fourth in the first two Order of Merit events this season, O’Hara’s win lifted him to the top of the early OOM standings.
Hardy, the winner of the opening OOM tournament of the campaign at Dundonald in April, mounted a front nine push in round two and reached the turn in five-under.
A bogey on the 10th halted his charge, however, and his 62 left him on two-under with Forsyth.
