Scott Henry made a mockery of lowly 460th World Ranking to upstage his more fancied rivals on day one of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
The 26-year old Clydebank golfer eagled the fourth on route to a four under par 68 on his ‘Burma Road’ debut.
Henry was one of the last few players to qualify for the Tour’s flagship event and he had the Tartan flag flying high trailing just two shots behind South African James Kingston who led the weather-affected event on six under par.
The Tour rookie ended the day also well clear of the likes of the US Open winning pair of Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell who each shot 74s and defending champion, Luke Donald who crashed to a six over par 78.
And there could have been no more daunting experience for Henry teeing up on the first tee just yards away from four of the biggest tournament trophies in golf – the Ryder Cup, the Open Championship Claret Jug, the Rodman Wanamaker PGA Championship trophy and BMW PGA trophy.
He said: I guess it was kind of a bit surreal because this morning I was pretty nervous. This is a huge tournament and you definitely feel that on the first tee, and starting also with a bogey was kind of disappointing.
“But from there on it was good playing and it was nice to see my name up there on the board going around the back nine.
”I only found out on Monday I was into the event, so I was delighted to get in. I knew it would be tight but I just made my arrangements to come down to Wentworth just in case.”
Henry has capped his now four-year pro career in last year winning the Challenge Tour’s Kazakhstan Open on the day of his father’s birthday.
That helped the prolific winning former Scottish amateur secure his full European Tour card.
However in the dozen events on this year’s Race to Dubai, Henry has made the cut in just four to earn Euro 19,644 and also broken 70 on just six occasions in his 32 rounds this season heading to Tour HQ .
He said: “It’s been slow progress, right from when I turned pro, and I knew I was going to have to lift my levels.
“It was great to win the Kazakhstan Open last year and that’s basically why I am here. I am still trying to learn from the better players and get my names up to that level.”
Marc Warren posted a three under par 69 to be the next best Scot.
However after teeing off at 2.15pm the double Tour winner did not walk from the course tat 8.45pm.
Aberdeen’s Richie Ramsay, like World No. 2 Rory McIlroy, was three under par after 12 holes the break in play did the reigning European Masters champ little favour.
Ramsay dropped three shots in four holes from the 13th before signing for a 71 and a similar score as three-time former BMW PGA winner, Colin Montgomerie.
