Kenny Ferrie among the leaders but Paul Lawrie in touch

THE mouth-watering prospect of the tournament host going head-to-head with fellow European Tour winner Kenny Ferrie may have been foiled, but, in a way, Paul Lawrie will actually be happier with the composition of the leaderboard heading into the final round of his inaugural Invitational event.

The Aberdonian's main aim, after all, was to give some of Scotland's home-based pros the chance to test themselves against more experienced players and, while the headline duo are both in contention in the 54-holer, the challenge is definitely bringing the best out of others in a field that is now down to 35.

Ferrie, one of the first-day co-leaders, is still at the head of affairs after a second-round 65 - the Englishman's eight-under-par 132 total being matched, with exactly the same scores, by Murrayfield's Mark Kerr and Andrew McArthur, the former Scottish amateur champion having stormed up the leaderboard on the back of a course-record 62.

With Graeme Brown, one of McArthur's former Scotland team-mates, alongside Lawrie on 135 after they both signed for 65s - Greig Hutcheon and Ross Cameron aren't out of the reckoning either on 136 - an intriguing finish is in store with a 4,000 first prize up for grabs in the leafy suburbs of Aberdeen.

McArthur, a 32-year-old from Glasgow, turned professional six years ago on the back of a successful amateur career and won on the Challenge Tour in Madrid in 2008.

He earned his European Tour card last year, but finished 198th in the Race to Dubai with winnings of just 34,500.

Now back on the Challenge Tour, though his low ranking stopped him getting a place in this week's Saint-Omer Open, McArthur has earned less than 4,000 in five events, admitting his enthusiasm to play at all had been drained until he and wife Laura became parents for the first time with the arrival of a baby boy, Ben, in March.

"I've been living on the bread line," he said after a faultless eight-birdie round put him in line for a 3,000 Ebel watch that has been put up by Finnies, an Aberdeen jeweller, for the lowest round this week.

"After failing to get through the second stage of the Q-School in November I completely lost my motivation. I was absolutely hating it and was so down on myself. I'm trying to enjoy it again and as soon as I went back to hitting shots after our son was born the enjoyment started to come back."

Kerr, a 27-year-old from Edinburgh, has done remarkably well to put himself in contention for a breakthrough pro win given that he has played little competitive golf this year and hasn't been able to practice much either due to his PGA training.

"I've led both the Northern Open and Scottish PGA Championship in the past two years and it would be nice to get the monkey off my back tomorrow as well as secure a place in next week's Scottish Challenge at Spey Valley," said Kerr, who admitted it would be "awesome fun" to play with Ferrie, a former European Open champion, in the final group.Brown, who has returned to his roots in Montrose to try to get his PGA qualification after a spell on the EuroPro Tour, chipped in for an eagle-2 at the 17th, where Lawrie's 18-year-old nephew, Sean, ran up a 7 that prevented him from joining the former Open champion in the last round.

David Law, the other amateur in the field, said he had a "bit of a struggle" for his 73, but still made it through, as did Heather MacRae, the 27-year-old celebrating her first successful cut against the men - and off the same tees, too - with a playful fist pump after being made to sweat on 143 until the last group finished.

As for the tournament host, he "putted for ages" on his indoor green at home on Wednesday night and reaped the rewards.