Paul O’Hara wins Scottish Young Pros by six shots

PAUL O’Hara left his driver in the bag for most of the final round as he coasted to a wire-to-wire victory in the Scottish Young Professionals Championship at West Lothian.

Paul O'Hara of Clydeway. Picture: Getty

Four shots clear at the halfway stage, the 26-year-old from Lanarkshire extended his advantage to six after a third-round 66 before closing with a 72 for a 12-under-par total of 272. It gave him a six-shot success over Caldwell’s Daniel Flannery (70, 72) and the fast-finishing Neil Fenwick, who signed off with a 66.

“This is right up there with my win on the EPD Tour in Germany in 2011,” admitted O’Hara after joining a host of top names, including European Tour winners Paul Lawrie and Alastair Forsyth, on the trophy. “I’ve been playing well for the last couple of months and my irons in particular have been unbelievable. It was only my putting that had been letting me down but it has been half-decent this week.”

O’Hara, who is attached to Clydeway Golf in Uddingston, started his final round with a bogey and also dropped three shots in the space of three holes on the back nine but was never threatened before signing off in style with a birdie-2.

“I hit a good few irons off the tee this afternoon as it was just a case of plodding my way around,” added the two-times Scottish Amateur runner-up, who is in the field for the Paul Lawrie Invitational at Deeside in a fortnight’s time.