Sam Locke opens new Tartan Pro Tour season with ten-under 61 at Montrose

The ten-under-par effort matched Locke’s best-ever competitive score in relation to par and earned him a whopping five-shot lead at the end of the opening circuit in an event being presented by Gym Rental Company.

“Yeah, I was very happy with my day’s work,” admitted Locke, a four-time winner on the circuit set up by Paul Lawrie in 2020 and is now an official feeder tour for the Challenge Tour, after signing for back-to-back eagles and six birdies on the Angus coast.

Scottish PGA champion Graeme Robertson and Ryan Campbell both made strong starts with matching 66s while Tom Higson signed for a 67 along with Englishman Will Marshall, but the opening day of the new campaign belonged to Locke.

“It’s the best I’ve played in quite a while, to be honest, as I did everything well,” added the Aberdonian, who is enjoying the chance to sleep in his own bed this week. “I didn’t hit it terribly in my warm up, but I’ve hit it a lot better, put it that way. When I went on the course, my drive at the first wasn’t great, having gone a bit left, but I played the rest of the whole okay.

“I then holed about an 18-foot putt on the fourth for a birdie then drove the green on five and two-putted there for birdie. I then hit a lovely second shot on five - a 3-iron from about 240 yards trying to chase it up - to about 20 feet and holed that for an eagle.

“Then on the seventh, I hit a good drive and, thankfully, my second shot from just over 70 yards went in. It was just one of those days where I hit good shots, though you don’t hole second shots very often.

“On 14, which was playing straight into the wind, I hit a good second shot to ten feet and, after managing to birdie the par-5 15th as well, I didn’t take driver at the last so that I could hit a full shot in there and hit a nice one to about 12 feet.”

Locke, who is mentored and managed by Lawrie, also carded a ten-under score on the Lansdowne Course at Blairgowrie in one of last year’s events, but this effort came in the strongest-ever field assembled on the circuit.

“I obviously couldn’t have asked for a better start to the new season and hopefully I can keep it going as I’m very aware that it’s only one round that’s done and dusted and there’s a long way still to go,” he said.

Two Challenge Tour cards are up for grabs on this season’s circuit and, though he’s looking forward to playing in the Scottish Challenge at Newmachar in August, Locke is determined not to be distracted from securing one of those being his No 1 goal this year.

“I could get some invites for the Challenge Tour this season. but all my focus is really going to be on the Tartan Pro Tour,” he said. “Last year I ended up missing a couple of events travelwise, including one due to a flight being cancelled. I don’t want to take that chance again this year as it’s a great opportunity we have with the two cards up for grabs.”

Playing in the same group, Lawrie, David Drysdale and Greig Hutcheon all signed for 68s and will be out to put some pressure on the leader in Wednesday’s second circuit.