GOLFERS from as far afield as the United States converged on Irvine Golf Club (Bogside) to line up in the Scottish Senior Men's Open Championship.

And the newly-crowned winner at the three-day event, Ronnie Clark from Erskine admitted local knowledge had helped him land the title.

He won the title on Friday afternoon at the first hole of a three-hole play-off.

Jubilant Ronnie said: "I was delighted to win the event as I finished runner-up a couple of years ago. I got two fives in the final two holes and that meant a play-off. It's a good course but I hadn't played it for more than 30 years until this week. But I got a hand from Sam Abercrombie, a member at Irvine who gave me a game earlier in the week.

"This is by far my biggest success yet. The key to it was that I played really solid from tee to green. I kept my nerve to win the event.

"To finally win a major championship is really special. I’ve been close in the past so it’s truly great to have made it this year to win my first national title.

“I played well across the first two days, but just couldn’t putt for some reason. I tried not to look at the scoreboard during play as I wasn’t sure how well I was going but when I heard my playing partners egging me on towards the end, I knew I must be in contention.”

“I’ve had an amazing time playing and always enjoy playing in this competition."