Fife golf ace Derek Paton crowned Scottish Senior Men’s Open champion

The Dunnikier player, who is also Scottish Golf vice president, explained how keeping calm had helped him turn things around from a challenging start on day one into an ultimately Championship-winning performance.

He said: “I think having that 77 on the first day basically calmed me down.

"I thought things can’t get any worse, they can only get better from here. So I relaxed on the second day and then on the final day I started really well (three under after five holes).

"There were a couple of little blips but I managed to hang on and I was surprisingly quite calm. I think my experience a couple of years ago of winning the Irish Senior Men's Amateur Open Championship helped a lot.”

Paton said he loved providing the tournament with a Scottish winner and raved about the views on offer at the stunning Stirling layout.

He added: “Scotland is the home of golf. The seniors, to be fair, are flying the flag. We won the senior home internationals last year and it’s good to see the seniors are doing so well.

"The views are awesome, the course conditions were great.

"Excellent greens and the fairways were great and the whole course was set up perfectly. The guys here have done a great job.”

Paton was one of 60 leading players and ties returning the lowest gross scores who headed into day three (following the cut at the end of day two) who remained locked in a fierce contest for the Championship title.

Heading into Friday’s final 18 holes after the cut, Paton had birdied six holes within his 68 on day two, having previously birdied just one hole and ended on a score of 77 on day one.

However, there were many other competitors in contention for the Championship title, not least Alan Hogg (St Andrews), who was leading in the afternoon of day three on -4 through nine holes but then bogied the 10th and 13th.

He was subsequently overtaken later by John Kirkpatrick (Ramside Hall), who was also leading at -4 in a final day charge towards the end.

There were many other notable performances in the field, not least from defending champion Ronnie Clark (Erskine) who, in spite of a final score of 69 (having birdied four holes on the final day) was denied a triple win and ultimately took fifth place behind Hogg on fourth.

Throughout day three Paton remained determined and birdied six holes in his third round, thus clinching victory and the Championship title.

The runner-up prize went to fellow Scotsman Paul Moutrie (Royal Troon) who birded the 2nd, 12th, 16th and 18th holes and finished on -2 with a score of 70, whilst England’s Richard Jones (Rotherham) took third place having birdied the 2nd, 13th and 18th.

A special over-65s category for the best played aged over 65 years was awarded to international competitor Michael Mercier (USA) who birdied three holes and finished on a final score of 72.