On a day of glorious sunshine and even hotter scoring, Australian Richard Green proved the pick of the bunch on the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles, a seven under par 65 giving him the first round lead in the Diageo Scottish PGA Championship.
Revelling in temperatures more normally reserved for his native Melbourne than the heart of Scotland, the 31 year old left-hander was flawless, seven birdies giving him a one shot lead over Sweden’s Fredrik Andersson while an incredible 11 players shared third place after opening with five under par 67s.
Two weeks ago Green, the winner of the 1997 Dubai Desert Classic, opened with 65 in The Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open and admitted his opening effort at Gleneagles was highly reminiscent of that.
“It was very much the same,” he said. “Here, like in Wales, I was very deliberate with all aspects of my game and I was in a great frame of mind so it was nice again to see that those things were working.”
One aspect working particularly well was Green’s putter which rolled in birdie efforts ranging in length from two feet to 15 and he finished in style, birdieing four of his last five holes.
Out in the second last group of the day, Andersson looked set to join Green as joint leader after covering his outward half, having started at the tenth, in sparkling figures of six under par 30.
Perhaps understandably the 30 year old Swede could not maintain the scorching pace on his inward half. A birdie from 12 feet at the fifth moved him into a share of the lead but he reliquished that honour with a bogey sixth at the ninth for a 66, after losing his ball in the deep rough to the right of the green.
“Obviously it was a little disappointing to finish like that but overall I am very pleased with my performance,” said Andersson. “I have been playing quite well over the past couple of months and I came into this week pretty confident.
“However, I didn’t play too well in practice and I felt perhaps it was because I was too tense, maybe trying that little bit too hard. So I made a conscious effort to try and relax on the course today and I have to say it paid off.”
Of the 11 players sharing third place on 67, the best finish was posted by Spain’s Ignacio Garrido who birdied the 16th and 17th before eagling the 533 yard 18th to be home in 33. Garrido was not the only player to finish with an eagle however, that honour also going to Jamie Spence and pre-tournament favourite Adam Scott.
The 22 year old Australian started with two birdies but saw little else happen in the middle of his round before his explosive finish.
“To be honest, after starting with two birdies, a 67 was the least I could have expected,” said Scott. “I dropped a shot at the fifth where I missed from three feet but apart from that it was pretty good and I’m pleased with where I am in the tournament, it is a perfect start for me.”
Other players to open with a 67 were Matthew Cort, Stephen Dodd, Ian Garbutt, Scott Gardiner, Raphael Jacquelin, Andrew Oldcorn, Raymond Russell and Patrik Sjoland, while the logjam continued with a further 11 players on 68 and 11 more on 69.
