David Logie carded a superb five under par 63 to claim the first round lead at the Scottish Senior Men’s Championship at Duff House Royal in Banff.
The Dun Whinny Golf Club at Gleneagles member goes into the second day two shots ahead of Englishmen Tim Seaton, Stuart Brown and Rupert Kellock, and three in front of Scotland’s Nick Robson, Englishman Tim Price and his compatriot Trevor Foster, the 2018 senior amateur champion.
Derek Paton, a Scottish senior international from Dunnikier Park in Kirkcaldy, carded a one under par 68 to share eighth place with Ian Crowther, David Martin and Paul Moultrie .
Logie got his round off to a great start with birdies at the second, third, fifth, seventh, ninth and 12th. He did drop shots at the 14th, 15th and 17th but birdies at the 16th and 18th confirmed his overnight lead.
“Surprised would be my initial feeling about it,” admitted the Scot. “I’ve been playing well but I didn’t quite see five under today.
“I hit the ball quite nicely in practice but rolled in a few putts today which makes all the difference.”
🎥 | Derek Paton reflects on his hectic day which saw him start out at @NairnGolfClub for #TheAmateur before travelling to @duffhouseroyal where he shot one under at the #SGSeniorMensOpen. pic.twitter.com/vxIKEX1rqG
— Scottish Golf (@ScottishGolf) June 16, 2021
The best story of the first round belonged to Dunnikier Park’s Derek Paton who started the day in the draw for The Amateur Championship at Nairn but after losing in the first round to John Paterson then drove 56 miles to Banff to take up his place in the Senior Men’s Open field.
Paton’s cross-country dash appeared to have little effect on him when he fired four birdies in an opening nine of 30 although it was perhaps no real surprise when he dropped shots at 13, 15 and 16 to finish on one under par 67.
“It’s been tough,” admitted the Scottish senior international.
“Making the cut at The Amateur took a lot out of me and then today I get up early to play against John. I played well, John just played a lot better, but at least I didn’t give him the game. He earned it with his play. He’s a fantastic lad and a great advert for Scottish golf.”
After the match was over Paton barely had a moment to gather his thoughts before hitting the road.
“I jumped into the car and drove down here which took about an hour and a half. I got here about 25 minutes before my tee time, so I hit a few putts, grabbed something to eat and got off to a flyer. After playing in The Amateur, it felt a bit like playing a practice round. It was so easy out there but then things caught up with me.
“I got a bit tired, got a bit lazy and made a few mental errors, but I held it together over the last couple of holes and one under is pretty good. I’m pretty happy with that.
“Now I’ve got to go back to Inverness to collect my stuff from the hotel,” he added. My wife’s still there. She caddied for me at Nairn. She packing stuff up but we’ll stay there tonight and then get up early and come back here tomorrow.”
The cut comes after the second round with the top 60 players and those tied for 60th place progressing to the final 18 holes on Friday.