KELLY TO THE FOURTH AT GLENEAGLES
CHRIS KELLY is one step away from joining the greats of Scottish golf as he chases a fourth title triumph in the M&H Logistics Scottish PGA Championship.
The 41-year-old completed a hat-trick of PGA wins last year with victory at Gleneagles, adding to his previous triumphs in the Tartan Tour’s flagship event in 2003 and 2015.
One more win at Gleneagles’ Kings Course next week would put Kelly on a par with John Panton, Eric Brown, Bernard Gallacher, Sam Torrance and Ross Drummond who have all claimed the crown four times or more.
But Kelly isn’t getting carried away with comparisons to previous greats as he prepares to launch his title defence on Thursday against a quality field including former European Tour professionals Alastair Forsyth, Chris Doak, Greig Hutcheon, Craig Lee, Steven O’Hara and Andrew Oldcorn.
He said: “I’m looking forward to seeing how I get on in this title defence though I don’t really have any great expectations.
“I’ve not played a lot of golf this year due to being busy at work. I’m just going along to see what happens.
“If I play well, great but I’m not really expecting to be in with a chance of winning again to be honest. I’ve won it three times and that’s been nice, especially last year, and I’m quite happy with that.
“If another one comes along, then great. If not I won’t be worrying about it too much.”
Kelly went in with the same low expectations when he rolled up to the Perthshire resort 12 months ago but won by six shots.