Local man equals St Andrews course record with stunning nine-under-par 63

The stunning effort, which contained two eagles, earned the 25-year-old a one-shot success in the Tartan Pro Tour’s St Andrews Classic presented by Fugro.

After opening with scores of 70 and 71, Paterson started the final day five shots off the lead in joint-13th on one of the most tightly-packed leaderboards in the circuit’s history.

He eagled the downwind par-5 third, where he only had a wedge in for his second, and also mixed five birdies with a double bogey on the front nine, which he covered in 31.

His second eagle of the day came at the 11th before adding back-to-back birdies at the 12th and 13th then repaired a bogey at the 15th with a birdie-2 at the penultimate hole.

“It feels brilliant as it’s been a very difficult season,” admitted Paterson, who finished with a 12-under-par total to pip new dad John Henry (65-72-68) for the £4500 top prize.

The win came on the back of Paterson finishing joint-fifth in the Leven Links Classic then third in the Macdonald Spey Valley Masters in recent weeks.

“It feels really good that all the work I have put in is starting to pay off,” he added. “I had a good couple of weeks at Leven and Spey Valley, so the game has been trending a little bit and now it is good to get a win under my belt.

“It is quite fitting for my first pro win over 54 holes to come at St Andrews. It was brilliant to get it done here as I live in the town.”

‘Until recently, the year had been a disaster’

Paterson, who won the Scottish Boys’ Stroke-Play Championship at Monifieth in 2017, is hoping his breakthrough victory on the Paul Lawrie-run circuit can be a springboard as he bids to climb the ladder in the professional game.

“The whole year until the last month and a half, I’d say, has been a bit of a disaster,” he admitted. “I’ve played some of the worst golf of my career and I was kind of questioning whether to continue for the remainder of the year. So I am really just happy that I have found something in my golf over the past month.”

He is up to fifth in the Tartan Pro Tour Order of Merit with three events to go, starting with next week’s Gleneagles Masters. Liam Johnston and Rory Franssen lead the battle for two HotelPlanner Tour cards next season.

“About a month ago, I just have been about on the points list,” said Paterson. “Liam and Rory are pretty far ahead of everyone else at this point, so I think I need to win at least one more.

“But, with the confidence I can take from this week and also my fifth place at Leven then the third at Spey Valley last week, I’m sure I will give it a good run.”