Golf: Patrick's parting shots

DAVID PATRICK, the former Mortonhall man who still lives in the Edinburgh area despite being attached to Elie, is gearing up for an exciting end to the season on the Tartan Tour.

He's the defending champion in next week's Scottish Young Professionals Championship at West Lothian and will then turn his sights on the top two titles on the domestic circuit - the Northern Open and the PGA Scottish Championship.

Both those events are being held later in the season than normal.

But Patrick, for one, is perfectly pleased about that as his club commitments have meant he's only just started to get in some serious practice again over the past couple of weeks.

"It's been a busy old summer. With Elie being a seasonal holiday place, there was too much going on in June, July and August for me to do any work on my own game at all," said the former Walker Cup man.

"But I've managed to fit in a bit of practice in the last week or so and hopefully the fact the Northern Open and Scottish Championship are a bit later this year will work out quite well for me.

"If they'd been played in the summer months, it might have been hard for me to perform - or even play in them at all."

Patrick heads a field of 90 trainee pros for the West Lothian event.

His main rivals are likely to include West Linton's Gareth Wright, runner-up in a 36-hole Tartan Tour event in Dumfries last weekend, and Neil Fenwick of Dunbar.

"It should be a good event and I'm certainly looking forward to defending my title," added Patrick.

"I finished second in the pro-am at West Lothian earlier in the season - the first time I had played there for 18 years - so that will help a bit next week.

"So, too, hopefully will the experience I have of playing in 72-hole events - that's an advantage I may have over most of the others in the field."

The Aberdeen Asset Northern Open takes place at Meldrum House the following week, with the curtain coming down on the Tartan Tour season when the Gleneagles SPGA Championship takes place on the Kings Course in the middle of next month.

Patrick has already claimed an Order of Merit success this season - at Deer Park in August - and admits it would be sweet if he could follow that up by tasting victory in either of those upcoming events.

"I've had chances to win both the Northern Open and the Scottish Championship in the past," he recalled.

"They are the two marquee events and to win one of them would turn what has already been a decent season into a very good one."

As next week's event is taking place, Dundonald Links will be staging one of the stage one events for the European Tour Qualifying School - but Patrick insists he won't be casting an envious glance at what's happening in Ayrshire.

"That [bidding for a card] will not be on my radar until at least next year, when I have finished my PGA training and see what my career opportunities are going to be like," he said.

"I certainly have no plans to go back on the Challenge Tour so it would probably be a case of all or nothing if I did give it a go again.

"Even then, my wife and I have a second child on the way and I don't know if I want to be away from my family for half the year."

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"I've had chances to win both the Northern Open and the Scottish Championship in the past. To win one would turn a decent season into a very good one" DAVID PATRICK