Golf: Despite eye injury, Capital man secures Alliance trophy win

The former Walker Cup player from Edinburgh woke up with one of his eyes puffed up like a golf ball and wondered if he'd be able to play in the two-round event.

But, after having problems with gauging distances on the greens on a morning 70 on the No.2 course, Patrick found his range as he stormed to the top of the leaderboard with an afternoon 61 on the shorter No.3 course.

His eight-under-par total of 131 gave him a three-shot win over Scott Catlin, the defending champion from Greenburn, Merchants pro Neil Colquhoun and Haddington amateur Neil Bain as Patrick repeated his UniRoyal Trophy triumph at Dalmahoy in 2008. "I was doing stuff around the house on Tuesday night and I might have rubbed my eye after touching something or, alternatively, something might have got into my eye," said the 35-year-old. "When I woke up in the morning, my eye was the size of a golf ball and I couldn't open it.

"It was still streaming when I started out for my first round, during which I had five three-putts. I kept hitting my first putt long and couldn't stop it.

"Thankfully, it got better as the day went on."

Three off the pace on the No.2 course after his opening effort, Patrick, who is attached to Elie these days, made his move with a sparkling start to his afternoon round.

He went 3-2-2-3 to be four-under after four – and reckoned it could have been even better.

"I holed from ten feet and 15 feet for birdies at the first and second then chipped in for an eagle at the third," he revealed.

"I should also have had an eagle at the fourth, missing from eight feet, but it was still probably my best-ever start to a round."

A poor sand wedge led to his only dropped shot of the round at the 12th before he finished in much the same way as he'd began – reeling off three straight birdies.

"I've not been playing much but have been working on my short game and feel my putting in particular has improved as a result of some stuff I've been doing in the house," added Patrick, who is gearing up for a first season of playing in pro-ams on the Tartan Tour.

After an opening 65 on the No.3 course – an effort matched in the morning by Colquhoun and Royal Burgess amateur Ian Taylor – Catlin maintained his excellent defence of the title with a second-round 69 to claim second spot.

The outstanding amateur performance of the day came from five-handicapper Bain, who claimed the Gavin Clark Trophy with two superb net 62s.

"They've got to be the two best rounds of my life," admitted the 45-year-old, who works as a project manager for Hewlett Packard in Edinburgh, having moved to the Capital from the Highlands, where he was a former club champion at Abernethy.