Robert Arnott, winner of the inaugural P and H championship recently, is back in the limelight again as joint halfway leader by two strokes with Greg McBain at the Gleneagles Scottish PGA champion-ship over the King’s Course.
Arnott, who will be 51 at the end of July, has a conditional card for the European Senior Tour, and the Bishopbriggs man’s four-under-par 67 yesterday gave him a six-under halfway tally of 136.
He said: “I’ve not made many mistakes over the opening two days and recording what was probably the biggest win of my career at Dundonald last week has been a confidence boost.”
Aberdeen-born McBain, who turns 30 on May 18, is now playing out of Kemnay, having been recruited by club professional David Brown.
McBain, a past winner of the Paul Lawrie Invitational at Deeside, has had the same scores as Arnott, a 69 followed by a 67, but for the first part of his second round thoughts of sharing the lead were far from his thoughts until a late revival.
He said: “Since joining David at Kemnay, it has freed up a lot more time for me to play and practice and my game is pretty good.
“I finished fourth behind Chris Doak here in 2010 and have also had a couple of top 10s since then.”
Co-leaders overnight, Chris Kelly (Cawder) and Graham Fox (Clydeway Golf) had earlier slipped, Kelly with a 75 for 141, Fox with a 74 for 140.
Aberdeen’s Scott Henderson had an eagle 3 at the long 18th and that got him in on the limit mark of 144 among the 34 qualifiers for the final two rounds.
The Kings Links man improved by eight shots on day one with a three-under 68, covering the last 12 holes in five under par.