Fantastic Fox takes PGA title with four below-par rounds

Published on 27/07/2012 04:53

THE final three-ball in the final round of the Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship ended with Graham Fox winning his first-ever 72-hole title.

With calm weather making for good conditions on the King’s Course, Fox pegged away, with hardened stalwarts Greig Hutcheon and Scott Henderson matching him blow for blow all the way round.

Three rounds in the 60s, culminating in a superb six-under-par 65 on Wednesday, saw 
Rowallan Castle’s Fox take a three-shot lead over Henderson, who plays out of King’s Links in Aberdeen, into yesterday’s round.

Hutcheon, of Banchory, and Downfield’s Kenny Hutton were a shot further back.

A final-round 67 was impressive for Hutcheon and Henderson shot 69, while Hutton fell away with a 73. So a closing 69 for a four-round total of 269 proved to be enough for Fox to beat Hutcheon by two strokes.

Fox said: “I stuck at it, kept believing and trusting all the work I’ve done with Ross Aitken [head pro at Rowallan] and the fitness programme set by John Welsh at Maximum Potential.”

By the eighth hole, Aberdonian Henderson had wiped out Fox’s overnight lead, but a Fox birdie at 11 and a par at the next stretched the gap to two as Henderson faltered.

Hutcheon, out in a two-under 33, birdied the tenth, as did the two others, but got into trouble at the short par-four 14th, where Fox picked up a valuable birdie.

The Banchory pro was two behind as they stood on the par-five final tee, but even an eagle there was matched by the new champion. Fox will again bid for his European Tour card at the end of the year, bolstered by this victory.

The round of the championship came from last year’s runner-up, Caldwell’s Chris Currie, who swept round in 63.

“I failed to hit only two greens in the last 36 holes”, he said. “I was hitting them so close I couldn’t miss holing the putts.”