Hard on the heels of his first pro-am victory of the year, Mark King continued his good form in today's opening round of the Gleneagles Scottish Championship.
Playing over the PGA Centenary course the 37-year-old Kingsfield pro shot a four-under 68, equalled later by Northern Open champion, Craig Lee, former Walker Cup player Lindsay Mann, and Englishman, Jonathan Lomas, now based in Ayrshire.
King was off his mark smartly, birdieing four of the opening five holes, and added two more, at nine and 16, but dropped shots at the short sixth and the seventh.
Lee, who made it clear he'd have preferred to play the course off longer tees (the yardage today was 6,662, 250 down on last year), nevertheless buckled down and reached the turn in 35, one under, then the former European Tour player turned on the power towards the end with gains at 14, 15, 16 and 18.
Lomas, starting at the 10th, had a flawless nine holes, ending with an eagle three up the 18th. But he immediately gave those shots back at the first, blocking his tee shot out to the right and losing the ball.
Sitting comfortably a farther shot behind are Ross Cameron, six-time pro-am winner this season David Orr, Jonny Sharp from Carrick on Loch Lomond and title holder, Jason McCreadie.
And despite all the pre-championship publicity - and therefore pressure - as the first woman to play in the event for 76 years, Gullane's Heather MacRae gave a fine account of herself, playing a course 10% shorter.
The 25-year-old from Dunblane recovered from a depressing start ("these are the first two fairways I've missed in I don't know how long"), marking down bogey, double-bogey at holes one and two, as she proceeded to reel off the remaining holes in level par, for a 75, which put her in the top 40 of the huge field of 159.
25 June, 2009