It was the second Order of Merit event in a row that the mercury pushed passed 20C, and whilst the rest of Scotland enjoyed the Sunday weather, the EuroDov field took to the firm and fast Links at Kinghorn.
The short course on the rota however showed its teeth with hard undulating fairways, small and fast greens and trouble awaiting a poor shot as soon as it was hit.

EuroDov Reporter had Denis Duncan, leader of the overall standings heading into the Kinghorn Classic as the favourite to win, however, and for the first time this season, we are sitting down with a two-time Order of Merit winner. We need to go back to the first event of the year, The St Andrews Open, for his last victory but David McColgan is back in the winner’s circle.

As the players headed off the 18th green, we had the chance to sit down and chat through the day.
So David, How does it feel to have your hands on the silverware again? “Great to have the chance to chat to you guys again, I can’t lie it’s great to have my name on another piece of silverware in the Order of Merit.”

Today’s win ends a run of three OoM events where McColgan failed to compete for silverware with two third place finishes and a tied fifth. His reflections are fairly honest over that period, “to be honest I didn’t play well at all in the Dodhead Invitational and that’s hard to take as it was my home competition. In hindsight I gave up on the Mearns Castle Memorial at the 16th and that’s probably been my lowest point in the Order of Merit this season.

I am delighted to have held it together today and got the result.”

It wasn’t all plain sailing for McColgan, he reached the turn at 3-under par but a run of holes that saw Denis Duncan go birdie-birdie-eagle-eagle-par-par-birdie propelled the four-time runner-up into the lead at 4 under. What was McColgan’s reaction to that?

“This is the big challenge I face each event; I know I can shoot low, but it only takes a good three or four holes from one of the others in the field and I can find myself scrapping to stay in touch. I must just play my game and I have been working on that, focussing on what I can control, and I think I managed that well today.”

Let’s look at your round, you started off with a birdie and holed a 12-footer for par on two how did that set you up for your round? “The birdie on 1 was big. You always want to start well. I didn’t really catch my 2 iron off the tee but had 95 yards into he green. I actually over hit it and the slope behind the green brought me right down to the hole and gave me an easy putt for birdie.

The Par on two was probably more important. It’s a hard tee shot and with the firmness of the fairways wedge shots were hard to control. I left myself a 12-footer downhill and breaking right to left and when it dropped in, I was very relieved.”

Golf is a game of luck, according to some, talk us through your tee shot on 3, “well…there’s not much I can say than, thank god it ended where it ended. I went for a knock down 7 iron into the wind and thought I’d get some left to right drift on it, however it stayed poker straight and landed right at the foot of the wall. Everyone knows that’s not where you want to leave it. However, given how firm the ground was my ball bounced up, landed on top of the wall then hopped forward on to the edge of the green. I am not going to lie; it was a big break early on.”

McColgan adds the Kinghorn Classic to the St Andrews Open and the EuroDov Cup he won earlier in July, many commentators have offered views on his season, but what’s his take on it? “It’s been a good season and I feel I have been on the cusp of scooping another event. Starting the season off with the win was good and lifting the EuroDov Cup really pushed me on and today’s win feels good.”

We’ve got one regular season event and the Tour Championships to come but what’s McColgan’s views on the season finale? “It’s been an amazing season so far, four different winners across five events. We’ve seen the consistency of Denis Duncan with four 2nd place finishes (and the drama around his late round collapses). The OoM standings have around 1400 points separating first and last, so the truth is it is anyone’s to win.”

Well, that seems like a good place to wrap up our catch-up with McColgan. EuroDov Reporter had him at 3/1 to win the Kinghorn Classic check out the Tournament preview for the Forrester Open to see what the odds are on him going back to back.