Labour of love pays off as Alan Lockhart’s Gleneagles win helps finance his wedding day

In a thrilling finish to the Tartan Tour’s flagship event over a soggy King’s Course, the 31-year-old got his nose in front for the first time all week with four holes to play then produced “one of the shots of my life” when he chipped in to save par at the short 16th.

He eventually signed for a closing 68 and a nine-under-par total of 275, winning by one from Christopher Currie, whose birdie putt at the last to force a play-off hit the hole, and former champion Greig Hutcheon, with overnight leader Jim McKinnon a further shot back in joint-fourth alongside Scott Henderson.

Lockhart, who is attached to Ladybank but originally hails from Arbroath and now lives in Bridge of Allan, revealed the winner’s cheque of £8,600 couldn’t have come at a better time for him and his fiancée, Emma McElhill. “It’s a weight off my shoulders as we’re getting married in Malta next April and this will help pay for it. It’s not been the best of years for me financially, so Emma has been the breadwinner – but not this week,” he said.

Lockhart won the Scottish Young Professionals’ Championship in 2005, but was unable to kick on from that, admitting he’d arrived in Perthshire at the start of the week facing a crisis point in his career.

“I’ve been doing this [playing on the Tartan Tour] for three-and-a-half years and won about 15 pro-ams in that time but had no money,” he added. “I also do some teaching and run an online business, but I was starting to think there was no point going on and, even after this win, who knows what the future holds.” Two behind McKinnon, the Irvine Bogside club professional, at the start of the day, Lockhart got off to a nervy start and needed two “superb” up and downs to salvage pars at the second and fourth. He then holed a 25-footer across the green for his first birdie of the day at the fifth.

Playing with both McKinnon and Caldwell’s Currie, Lockhart noted: “There was a big momentum shift when that went in as I had been struggling early on while they were both striking the ball a lot better.”

Two more birdies – at the sixth and tenth – took him level with McKinnon, but the momentum was back with the Ayrshireman after the 12th. He birdied that, as did Currie, but Lockhart three-putted to fall two behind again. Left off the tee at the next, Lockhart’s challenge looked to be faltering but he saved par with a 25-footer and then watched his two playing partners miss from less than half that distance.

“Another momentum shift,” noted Lockhart, who then took the lead for the first time when he birdied the driveable par-4 14th and McKinnon dropped a shot, which Currie also did at the next after a three-putt.

All three made pars at the short 16th, though Lockhart’s was much more adventurous than the other two. A tugged tee shot left him short-sided and his first attempt didn’t reach the green. “But I then produced one of the shots of my life by chipping the next one in – that was huge,” he reflected later. Even then, the drama wasn’t finished. Currie birdied the 17th to close within a shot and almost forced a play-off with his 15-foot birdie attempt at the par-5 18th.

Relieved to see that stay above ground, Lockhart punched the air with both fists after tapping in for his title-winning par. “I was trying not to put myself under too much pressure this week but I knew there was a huge amount of money to be won as well as a prestigious title,” he said.

Currie, who closed with a battling 70, and Hutcheon, who signed off with a 68, both picked up cheques for £5,250, while McKinnon (72) and Henderson (69) each earned £2,800 for their efforts. Hutcheon’s late surge was not enough to deprive Hayston’s Stephen Gray in the race for both the order or merit and money-list titles. Despite a 75 dropping him into a tie for 24th, the 37-year-old finished the season as the Tartan Tour No 1.

Gray will be joined by Hutcheon and former Walker Cup player David Patrick, third on the order of merit, in the end-of-season PGA play-offs in Turkey.