Aberdeen’s Richie Ramsay – although The Renaissance is actually his base these days – picked up the first Jock MacVicar AGW Memorial Award as top Scottish finisher at the abrdn Scottish Open – although he had to wait for a while.
The 38-year-old was on the 18th tee when a threat of lightning brought play to an abrupt halt. 90 minutes later, he followed up the two birdies he’d had immediately prior to the delay with a solid par at the last to finish on 12-under.
That meant he was the first winner of the award named in honour of the legendary golf writer who covered nearly 60 years of Scottish golf and died at the age of 83 earlier this year.
‘We knew how passionate he was to see us do well’
Play will restart at 17:55 local time 👍#abrdnScottishOpen #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/4iMivezDUS
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) July 11, 2021
“I knew Jock from the Scottish Boys when I was 15 all the way up to European Tour, and the same’s true for all the Scots players,” said Richie. “We knew how passionate he was to see us do well and this is a fitting tribute to him.”
Ramsay needed “a bit of bulldog” on the final day having admitted he was nervous prior to his round, lying just four off the lead.
“I was solid, made a couple of mistakes at 10 and 11. But then had a couple of really nice birdies on 16 and 17,” he said of his tied 15th finish, following up a fourth place in Ireland last week.
“The last two weeks have been huge. I don’t know what it’s done for me yet (it has moved him into the Race to Dubai top 60) but I know it needed to happen.”
MacIntyre feels in good shape before Sandwich
Robert MacIntyre still didn’t get much out of the day but he feels in good shape. He’ll be the only Scot in the Open next week.
“I thought I played great within reason,” he said after his 69 for 11-under and a tie for 18th. “Likes of shots into 13, pitches five yards right of the pin, runs off the green left.
“That was a bogey-free round, which you’ll take, and I was never in trouble. Just early on when I birdied two, I thought ‘here we go’. Then I teed the ball a bit lower on the third to try to take a bit of speed off the ball and just cannoned it.
“It snuck into the bunker and that kind of killed it, that was the momentum. I really needed to get going early on through the first five holes if I was going to challenge.
“The fifth was a great tee shot as well, just a foot from being absolutely perfect. You get days like that. It just seems to be happening a lot right now.”
He “would have loved” to have won the new trophy in honour of his fellow Argyll man.
“Jock was golf in Scotland,” he said. “It would have meant everything to me, having known him so well over the past 10 years.”
Syme finishes strongly, Law falls back
Connor Syme had a strong finish with a 68 to move up into a tie for 35th on nine-under. That moved him another 10 spots further up the Race to Dubai.
David Law had mentor Paul Lawrie arriving from his holiday in the Highlands to lend his support.
He had his poorest round of the week, with a one-over 72. But the 30-year-old did rally strongly from a rough mid-round spell to also finish on nine-under.
Grant Forrest, after a strong first two days, finished three-over for the weekend. He finished two-under for the tournament with rounds of 72 and 73.