Former European Tour winner Alastair Forsyth is seeking a second Loch Lomond Whiskies Scottish PGA title – 22 years after his first – and opened superbly at West Kilbride.
Now 46, the two-time tour winner was in his first full year as a pro in 2000 when he won the Scottish on the Queens Course at Gleneagles.
He ended that season winning his tour card and then played the big tour for a decade. Now the head pro at Mearns Castle, he started the national championship with a six-under 65 to lead by a shot.
Forsyth had eight birdies and leads from 2019 champion Paul O’Hara and from Gavin Hay.
“It’s nice to still be out here competing,” he said. “I won the Northern Open in 2019, 20 years after I first won it, and it would be great to win the Scottish PGA again after 22 years. It’s early days but this was a good start.”
Forsyth was sparked by a 30-foot putt for birdie on the second and added two more on the next two holes. He dropped shots at the ninth and 13th, but his final hole birdie gave him the lead for the day.
“I’d missed a four-footer for a birdie on 17 so that one on the last softened the blow a bit,” added Forsyth.
“These days I’ve got a good mixture of competing and coaching. I can be coaching five or six days a week at Mearns Castle. It can be hard to work on your own game when you’re helping others. I can go two or three weeks without hitting a ball.”
O’Hara and Hay share second
The opening tee shot of the @LochLomondMalts Scottish PGA Championship by the defending champion @GrahamFoxGolf this morning#tartantour #pgascotland @ArnoldClark pic.twitter.com/R9homnqnUT
— PGAScotland (@PGAScotland) August 30, 2022
O’Hara, a perennial force in his championship and on the PGA Scotland circuit, moved himself into contention with a 66 launched by birdies on the first three hole.
“I know this course inside out as I play it a lot,” said O’Hara, champion in 2019 and runner-up three times. “I would certainly have taken a 66 at the start of the day.”
East Renfrewshire’s Hay claimed a share of second with his own 66. Last year’s runner-up, Craig Lee, lies in a share of fourth on 67. Twice champion Gareth Wright and the reigning Scottish Young Professionals’ champion Graeme Robertson.
Graham Fox, who is defending the national title over his the course where he grew up, recovered from a shaky start with three birdies in a row near the turn on his way to a one-under 70.