David Law is relishing the opportunity of claiming a maiden European Challenge Tour title on home soil as the Aberdeen player arrives at the Scottish Hydro Challenge hosted by Macdonald Hotels and Resorts on the back of his best run of form on Europe’s second tier.
The 23 year old, a protégé of former Open Champion Paul Lawrie, is playing his third Scottish Hydro Challenge this year as he joins a strong field in the battle for the lion’s share of the record €250,000 prize fund on offer this week.
While he has missed the cut on both of his previous visits to Macdonald Spey Valley Golf Club, Law is playing his first full season on the Challenge Tour this year and with experience, he is growing in confidence.
After claiming his first professional victory on the satellite Pro Golf Tour at the end of last year, Law comes to Scotland on the back of two successive top 15 finishes, first a tied 12th finish at the Fred Olsen Challenge de España and then a tied ninth at the Najeti Hotels et Golfs Open, so he is in confident mood.
“I can’t wait,” he said. “I'm renting a house for the week so my mum and dad, my sister, my girlfriend and my dog are coming up, it’ll be good fun.
“It’s a week I've been looking forward to all year. It’s a great event on a nice course and I like the town. There are a lot of nice places to eat and there’s a good atmosphere around so it’s definitely one of my favourite tournaments of the year.
“It’s about an hour and a half away from home so maybe I’ll have some friends and family up at the weekend if I make it that far.
“Last year a few guys were planning to come up at the weekend but I didn’t make it! I definitely want to make up for it this year.
“I like the course and I felt like I’ve played well enough over the last couple of years but I've missed the cut by a shot and by two shots, so hopefully this year I can do a bit better than that. It is somewhere I feel pretty comfortable.”
Having joined the paid ranks with a big reputation following his win at the 2011 Scottish Amateur Championship at Western Gailes, Law feels like he is finally getting to grips with life as a professional and feels he is now ready to claim a first win on the Challenge Tour.
“I feel like I'm finding my feet a little more out here,” he said. “I made a few cuts to start off with and it’s good just to play four rounds and get a bit of confidence. Then I got the 12th in Spain and started to play better.
“I feel like I belong a bit more than I have in the past. I won on a satellite tour at the end of last year and then I had a good start to this year too. I’d love to say I felt like a win was coming but I'm not the type to be predicting.
“I’m playing well and I've been stringing good rounds together in the last few weeks so I wouldn’t say it’s far away. It’s a home tournament this week and it will be great having the family up there. It will definitely get me going for it a bit.”
