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Round One Report
Lee Westwood fired two eagles on his way to carding a superb nine under par 62 to take a one shot lead after the opening round of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open – 22 years after he won the title at Loch Lomond.
The Englishman made the most of the favourable afternoon conditions at The Renaissance Club, equaling the course record, as he now goes in search of a third Rolex Series title.
The 47-year-old claimed his first European Tour win in four years with victory in the 2018 Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player, before earlier this year holding off the chasing pack of Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and Victor Perez to claim the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA title.
Sweden’s Alexander Björk and Dutchman Joost Luiten are one shot off the pace at eight under par with local favourite Scott Jamieson at seven under.
Scotsman Craig Lee, who has not played a European Tour event since the 2017 Andalucía Valderrama Masters, is currently tied sixth alongside Englishman Robert Rock and Finland’s Kalle Samooja.
Meanwhile Scottish Major winner Paul Lawrie confirmed her will call time on his European Tour career after completing his 620th appearance on Scotland’s Golf Coast.
Player quotes:
Lee Westwood: “I didn’t put myself under too much pressure all day. I played solidly. We got the good end of the draw, there’s no doubt about that, in the afternoon lot.
“But you’ve got to make the most of it when it does happen to you. That’s links golf, and you know you’re going to be on the wrong side of it often enough, so when you’re on the right side of it, you’ve got to try to make the most of it.
“I played solidly. Drove the ball well. Iron shots were good. In a good groove since the U.S. Open. I took that discipline from there to here today. Aimed away from flags when I needed to. Left myself a lot of nice looks uphill for birdie today.
“Distance control was good, which you know, could have been one of the few things to trip people up today. It wasn’t quite going as far as normal. The greens are nice and you feel like if you put a good roll on it, it holds its line. So, yeah, obviously very pleased with the round.”
Alexander Björk: “It was kind of a bit of a weird round. I started like a flyer with five birdies in a row the first six holes, and then I missed a couple of short putts, got out — got kind of out of it a bit. Then all of a sudden, I made two really long ones and then I was back in. But overall it was a very solid round.
Joost Luiten:
Scott Jamieson: “I looked at the scores when I got to the golf course and realised that it obviously had been really tough in the morning and I think when it’s wet and cold like that, the ball just doesn’t travel far.
“And then if you’re in the rough, it’s tough to move to ball far. So for me, very lucky to be on that side of the draw today but there’s a long way to go, and we’ll see what the weather does.
“I think everyone probably recognised that this week and next week is probably going to define how good a season you have. You could play well the rest of the tournaments, maybe not do particularly well this week and next week, and you don’t get to Dubai. But the same could be said the other way, you could not play well in those events and then play great in just one of these weeks, and you may find yourself in Dubai.”
Paul Lawrie: “There are a lot of factors behind the decision, the main one being that I don’t feel I can be competitive week in, week out at this level. My back is not very good, I’ve got a herniated disc and I struggle to practice enough. I’m not able to hit the amount of balls I need. I’m not particularly talented so I lose my game quite quickly.
“To have played 620 events is not a bad innings considering I turned pro (in 1986) with a five handicap and didn’t think I’d play any. I haven’t been a great player, but I’ve been decent and that’s all you can ask for.”
Round One scores:
62 L WESTWOOD (ENG),
63 A BJORK (SWE), J LUITEN (NED),
64 S JAMIESON (SCO),
65 R ROCK (ENG), C LEE (SCO), K SAMOOJA (FIN),
66 W ORMSBY (AUS), M KINHULT (SWE), L HERBERT (AUS), M LEE (AUS),
67 I POULTER (ENG), A SULLIVAN (ENG),
68 S VALIMAKI (FIN), E PEPPERELL (ENG), M LORENZO-VERA (FRA), M SOUTHGATE (ENG), R H?JGAARD (DEN), M PAVON (FRA), N COLSAERTS (BEL), M KORHONEN (FIN), J LAGERGREN (SWE), H LI (CHN),
69 G MCDOWELL (NIR), C SHINKWIN (ENG), T FLEETWOOD (ENG), M KAWAMURA (JPN), B STONE (RSA), C BEZUIDENHOUT (RSA), E FERGUSON (SCO), C WOOD (ENG), F ZANOTTI (PAR), M ANTCLIFF (AUS), M FITZPATRICK (ENG), D LAW (SCO), V PEREZ (FRA), R FOX (NZL), P HANSON (SWE),
70 R MCEVOY (ENG), B WIESBERGER (AUT), A WU (CHN), C SYME (SCO), D HORSEY (ENG), L BJERREGAARD (DEN), B HEBERT (FRA), T PULKKANEN (FIN), M WARREN (SCO), M WALLACE (ENG), G GREEN (MAS), A RAI (ENG), S SHARMA (IND), J SURI (USA), J SMITH (ENG), J JANEWATTANANOND (THA),
71 G FORREST (SCO), S HEND (AUS), J CAMPILLO (ESP), F LAPORTA (ITA), A QUIROS (ESP), D BURMESTER (RSA), A OTAEGUI (ESP), S NORRIS (RSA), T PIETERS (BEL), S HEISELE (GER), P HARRINGTON (IRL), G COETZEE (RSA), A JOHNSTON (ENG), J WINTHER (DEN), C HILL (SCO), E VAN ROOYEN (RSA), T DETRY (BEL),
72 G HIGGO (RSA), J MORRISON (ENG), J STALTER (FRA), M KAYMER (GER), D HOWELL (ENG), S KJELDSEN (DEN), G MIGLIOZZI (ITA), J CATLIN (USA), S BROWN (ENG), P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP), O FISHER (ENG), C PAISLEY (ENG), N ELVIRA (ESP), T AIKEN (RSA),
73 J GUERRIER (FRA), M CAMPBELL (NZL), A CHESTERS (ENG), K BROBERG (SWE), V DUBUISSON (FRA), J HARDING (RSA), R FISHER (ENG), P LAWRIE (SCO), J WANG (KOR), M KIEFFER (GER), J HANSEN (DEN), H PORTEOUS (RSA), S CROCKER (USA),
74 P WARING (ENG), R PARATORE (ITA), R MACINTYRE (SCO), R BLAND (ENG), G STORM (ENG), R JACQUELIN (FRA), D WILLETT (ENG), E MOLINARI (ITA),
75 J WALTERS (RSA), N BERTASIO (ITA), S GALLACHER (SCO), J SCRIVENER (AUS), P O’HARA (SCO), A ARNAUS (ESP),
76 D DRYSDALE (SCO), S HORSFIELD (ENG), L CANTER (ENG), T OLESEN (DEN),
77 G BHULLAR (IND), O WILSON (ENG), T BJ?RN (DEN), L GAGLI (ITA),
78 M JIM?NEZ (ESP),
79 R LANGASQUE (FRA),
80 R RAMSAY (SCO), A LEVY (FRA), N FENWICK (SCO),
81 A PAVAN (ITA),
