O'Hanlon Takes Scottish Hydro Challenge

Paul O'Hanlon (The Curragh)

Paul O’Hanlon of Team Ireland steps up to the Challenge Tour this week after a share of fourth place at the EUROPRO Caste Dargan event last week with an invite to the Scottish Hydro Challenge to be played at the Macdonald Spey Valley Golf Club as of Thursday.

O’Hanlon will be joined by fellow Team Ireland players Jonathan Caldwell and Gareth Shaw who arrive from Austria after competing in the Karnten Golf Open by Markus Brier Foundation at the weekend - with Caldwell finishing 27th and Shaw 46th.

Colm Moriarty returns to action after a few days off - following consecutive weeks on the road - with his last event the Telenet Trophy in Belgium ten days ago where he finished 28th.

Jamie McLeary of Scotland defends his title after he became the first home winner of the event at Spey Valley last year when he held off the 2009 Challenge Tour Rankings champion, Edoardo Molinari.

Not long after that event Molinari went on to win the Omega Mission Hills World Cup for Italy with his younger brother Francesco and this season is inside the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking.

The other three winners of this event – Sam Walker in 2006, Robert Dinwiddie in 2007 and Taco Remkes in 2008, have all gone on to earn European Tour cards.

Young Italian star, Matteo Manassero, is also down to play along with former Open Champion, Paul Lawrie of Scotland, who believes the tournament gives Scottish players a great opportunity.

“To have a Challenge Tour event in Scotland, featuring some of the best young players in Europe, gives our home players the chance to gauge their abilities against the kind of competition that they should expect to come up against throughout a career at the top level,” said Lawrie

“To give our players a sense of that environment can only improve standards in Scotland, and eventually help us get more players competing at the game’s highest level.”