After 'plodding along', Scott Jamieson is ready for a tilt at the European Tour

BY HIS own admission, Scott Jamieson had been "plodding along" in his first season on the European Challenge Tour, but the Glasgow golfer's end-of-year flourish is set to be rewarded in this week's Apulia San Domenico Grand Final in the Puglia region of southern Italy.

The 26-year-old, a former Scottish amateur No 1, opened with a neatly-crafted two-under 69 in round one yesterday to sit in share of eighth, three shots behind early pace-setters, Peter Gustafsson, Steve Tiley and Bernd Wiesberger.

Jamieson, who turned professional at the end of 2006, has slowly worked his way up the ranks and earned his place on the Challenge Tour after a sterling campaign on the EuroPro Tour in 2009 that was burnished by two wins and led to him securing the order of merit crown.

The step up a division proved testing and, just as recently as mid-September, the Cathkin Braes man was languishing down in 71st on the order of merit. A second-place finish in the Kazakhstan Open, the richest event on the Challenge Tour, arrived at the best possible time and propelled him up into the top 20 on the order of merit.

He followed that result with three more top-ten finishes over the next few weeks which have left him 11th on the rankings, with the leading 20 after this week's 72-hole showdown gaining promotion to the European Tour.

"I was plodding along, but that result in Kazakhstan gave me the lift I needed," said Jamieson, who ended his round on a high yesterday with a putt of 20ft for birdie on the last. "You need a result like that in pro golf to feel that you belong there and that proved to me that I did.

"I now feel I'm ready to take my game to the European Tour, but it would be nice to move up with a win here behind me. That is now the target this week."

Fife's George Murray, who sits in a comfortable eighth in the order of merit and has all but clinched a place at the top table, experienced a frustrating day on the greens as he signed for a level-par 71 to sit alongside fellow Scot, Jamie McLeary.

McLeary, the Scottish Hydro Challenge winner in 2009, is down in 33rd on the rankings and reckons he needs a top-two finish here to have any hope of gatecrashing the European Tour card-winning places.

The 29-year-old has had his chances to add to his solitary Challenge Tour victory this season - he led last month's Russian Cup by two shots with a round to play only to drop to fifth - and admits he should have put himself much higher up the order ahead of this week's final.

"If I get at sniff of winning I'm good at closing it out, but that's not been the case this year," said McLeary."My last nine holes at some events have cost me a fair bit of money this season and I really should be up there."

Raymond Russell, the former European Tour winner who sits 21st on the money list, saw his hopes of hoisting himself into the all-important leading 20 suffer a blow as he opened with a three-over 74. At the head of the pack, Wiesberger, Tiley and Gustafsson all fired five-under 66s to share the lead.

Gustafsson, the 34-year-old Swede, has bitter memories of the Grand Final, having been knocked out of the promotion places at the death by David Drysdale's last-gasp win in the 2004 event. Having also finished just one place outside the qualifying zone in 2009, Gustafsson, currently down in 35th, is hoping to be the man to make a late push this time.

He said: "The guys that are in the top 20 think they have everything to lose. I'm just trying to enjoy the week and see where it takes me."