Golf: Latest winner on Paul Lawrie’s Tartan Pro Tour soothes play-off heartache with victory

Chris Maclean was thrilled to put previous play-off heartache behind him by triumphing at the Royal Dornoch Masters.

The Clydebank golfer secured victory in the third event of Paul Lawrie’s Tartan Pro Tour in the Highlands yesterday after his five-under-par score, with rounds of 66 and 69, took him to a play-off with Craig Lee.

After the pair had tied the first hole of the sudden death play-off, Maclean triumphed on the second hole with a par three.

Stonehaven’s Sam Locke finished tied fourth on two under after rounds of 68 and 70.

In Maclean’s penultimate event before the shutdown in March, the 25-year-old was pipped by German Nick Bachem at the Open Royal Golf Anfa Mohammedia in Morocco.

Maclean held firm on this occasion to win the £4,000 cheque in the third event of the six-tournament tour.

Maclean said: “I got beaten in a play-off in March on the Pro Golf Tour, so it was nice to finally get the win. I was trying to channel good vibes all the way through the play-off this time around.

“It feels like it has been a while coming, but I have been playing good golf.

“It’s nice to validate that feeling – although it was harder work than I wanted it to be.”

Maclean feels the new tour, organised by 1999 Open champion Lawrie, has given him a timely opportunity to play some of his favoured courses.

He added: “This is definitely one of my favourite courses, I played in a few matches here when I was at Stirling University.

“I always enjoy playing here. It’s always in great nick, and the greens were especially so this week.”

Lawrie felt the Royal Dornoch Masters provided a fitting test in the third instalment of his tour.

The 1999 Open champion said: “Royal Dornoch has stood the test of time.

“I’ve been coming up here for years – I have always had a high regard for all the people and the golf course. It’s a pleasure to bring our tour here.

“The golf course is proper. If you get a little bit of weather on links courses, the scoring is pretty tough and you’ve got to play pretty well to shoot under par.

“It was great golf from the two boys, five under par around there for two days is very good, because the weather was not the best.”