Ross Kellett is confident his strong showing on home soil can lead to better things when he returns to action on the Continent after finishing as top Scot in the SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge at Macdonald Spey Valley

On a gusty day in Aviemore, the Motherwell golfer, 27, closed with a battling level-par 71 for an eight-under 276 and shared 13th place behind his touring room-mate Jack Senior, who won in a three-man play-off.

Kellett, who recorded his third top 20 of the season on the European Challenge Tour, will pack his bags tonight and head to Germany for the Aegean Airlines Challenge before moving on to events in Slovakia and Tenerife.

And the former Scotland amateur cap will travel in good spirits as he looks to build on his solid show in Scotland.

He said: “It’s been a good week and another good haul of ranking points. This was the best I’ve hit the ball all year so that’s encouraging and gives me confidence going forward.

“It’s a long season and there’s plenty to still play for. I’ve got three weeks on the spin now, in Germany, Slovakia and Tenerife so hopefully we can keep progressing. There were a lot of good golfers playing here and a lot of good Scottish ones so to finish as the best Scot is something to be proud of.”

As the leading home player in the field, Kellett was awarded the Douglas Lowe Memorial Trophy, named after the former Herald and Times golf correspondent who passed away in 2011.

Glasgow’s Andrew McArthur, finished with a brace of bogeys at 17 and 18 in a 74 and dropped out of the leading 20 with a five-under tally.

At the head of the field, Morecambe ace Senior edged out Robert Coles and Prom Meesawat with a birdie on the fourth play-off hole after the trio had finished locked on 16-under 268s.