Chris has close eyeon ScotsOpen

The 38-year-old defending champion finished in second place, six strokes behind Greig Hutcheon, of Inchmarlo, who carded a 13-under-par 267.

Kelly ended with a 69 which featured three birdies in the last eight holes.

He told the Herald he had felt “pretty calm and confident” after getting through the first day and “it was always nice to play well” – but Hutcheon had a bit more on the final day.

Kelly is off this weekend to Lossiemouth for the Scottish Open qualifiers.

The top five finishers will go through to the compeittion proper on Thursday at Castle Stuart.