Age proves no barrier for Robert Arnott

IT’S becoming a trend. First the “old farts” were in the Masters mix, now one has struck on the Tartan Tour.

2014 P&H Championship at Dundonald Links winner Robert Arnott. Picture: Contributed

Robert Arnott, a 50-year-old who is attached to Bishopbriggs Golf Range, has yet to deliver a blow in anger in the Senior ranks.

As luck would have it, he’s secured a conditional card for Europe’s over-50s circuit in a season when there are only nine regular events.

In the meantime, he’s keeping his hand in by extending a 25-year career on the Tartan Tour and age certainly proved no barrier for him in the inaugural P&H Championship at Dundonald Links.

A closing four-under 68 for a 10-under aggregate of 206 gave the former PGA Cup man a one-stroke victory over a trio of players on the Ayrshire coast.

It earned Arnott, reaping the reward of being a lifelong teetotaller, a cheque for £6,000 which, added to the £1,300 he’d picked up as top senior in the field after two rounds, made it a good week’s work.

“It’s not a bad pay-day for 
an old fart,” he declared after pipping Graham Fox (Clydeway Golf), David Orr (Mearns Castle Golf Academy) and Louis Gaughan (Bathgate).

Arnott’s final salvo included three birdies in the last five holes, the decisive one being a 25-foot putt at the 17th. “The money will certainly help me for the Senior Tour,” he added.

The first round in the PGA EuroPro Tour’s Eagle Orchid Scottish Masters at Montrose Links was set to spill into a third day after mist again disrupted play.

Three players were sharing the lead on three-under 68 – Elliott Saltman (Archerfield Links) and English duo Jason Timmis and Steve Uzzell.

Elsewhere, five Scots – Ross Kellett, John Henry, John Gallagher, Michael Stewart and James White – set out in today’s opening round in the Alps Tour’s Rebetz Open in France.