Thongchai and Noren lead Barclays

Scottish Open with 64s

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Lee Westwood described his opening round of the Barclays Scottish Open as "a miracle" - although mainly because he did not get wet.
Westwood returned a flawless 67, four under par, that would have been even better but for seeing his birdie putt on the last lip out from five feet, but he was happy simply to stay dry as he finished three shots behind Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand), who recorded a 64 with eight birdies and one bogey and led the field until the evening when Alexander Noren (Sweden) joined him at the top of the leaderboard, one ahead of former US Open champion Angel Cabrera.
Playing partner Colin Montgomerie was relatively satisfied with his opening 69, two under par, despite dropping a shot on the par-3 eighth the day after revealing he had played it 18 times before his wedding here earlier this year, managing 14 pars and four birdies.
Ryder Cup team-mate Paul McGinley was a shot further back on one under 70, although that was a disappointing result for the Irishman after being three under after six.
McGinley has so far failed to qualify for next week's Open at Birkdale and needs a top-five finish here on Sunday to scrape in at the last minute.
"I would have settled for getting round without getting wet, it was a miracle," said Westwood, third in the US Open last month, just one shot outside the play-off contested by Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate.
"I got up at 5.30am and I can tell you it was hammering it down at 6am and it didn't look good."
As for the round itself, Westwood said: "I played all right, pretty solid. The course held up well, although it was playing about two yards longer than Wednesday because that's how far the ball was spinning back in the fairway.
"I felt a bit under the weather, I didn't feel myself. My legs didn't feel very strong but hopefully I can get a good night's sleep."
Westwood has finished third three times and fifth twice on the European Tour this season, but admitted he was slightly frustrated at not turning his incredibly consistent form into a victory.

FIRST ROUND TOTALS
Par 71
64 Alexander Noren (Swe), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha).
65 Angel Cabrera (Arg)
66 Garry Houston, Niclas Fasth (Swe), John Bickerton
67 Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Graeme McDowell, Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Johan Edfors (Swe), Sven Struver (Ger), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Richard Green (Aus), Pablo Martin (Spa), Lee Westwood,Thomas Levet (Fra), Henrik Stenson (Swe)
68 Damien McGrane, Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Ross Fisher, Robert Dinwiddie, Pelle Edberg (Swe), Oliver Fisher, John Gallacher (am), Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Andres Romero (Arg), David Drysdale, Paul Lawrie, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), David Dixon, Gary Murphy, Tom Whitehouse, Ariel Canete (Arg), Mark Foster
69 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Iain Pyman, Gregory Havret (Fra), Michael Campbell (Nzl), Colin Montgomerie, David Howell, David Lynn, Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Mardan Mamat (Sin), Simon Khan, Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Ian Poulter, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Ross McGowan
70 Anders Hansen (Den), James Kingston (Rsa), Soren Hansen (Den), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Peter Hanson (Swe), Anthony Wall, Rory McIlroy, Marc Warren, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Peter Fowler (Aus), Christian Cevaer (Fra), Marcel Siem (Ger), Phillip Price, Scott Strange (Aus), Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Gareth Paddison (Nzl), Richard Finch, Jamie Donaldson, Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Paul McGinley, Richard Sterne (Rsa)
71 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Oliver Wilson, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Peter Lawrie, Simon Dyson, Simon Wakefield, Andrew Oldcorn, Steve Webster, Anton Haig (Rsa), Hennie Otto (Rsa), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Peter Baker, Greig Hutcheon, Nick Dougherty, Stuart Manley, Darren Clarke, Jonas Blixt (Swe), Paul Broadhurst, Phil Mickelson (USA), Sam Walker, Barry Lane
72 David Griffiths, Leif Westerberg (Swe), Benn Barham, Sion Bebb, Christopher Hanell (Swe), Graeme Storm, Simon Lilly, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Ernie Els (Rsa), Martin Wiegele (Aut), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Adam Scott (Aus), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Matthew Millar (Aus), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Shiv Shankar, Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Carl Suneson (Spa), Stephen Gallacher, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)
73 Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Gary Orr, Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Lee Slattery, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Alastair Forsyth, Miles Tunnicliff, Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Mark Brown (USA), Reinier Saxton (Ned), Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Peter O'Malley (Aus)
74 Danny Willett, Scott Drummond, Lloyd Saltman, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Callum Macaulay (am), Stephen Dodd, Phillip Archer, Michael Jonzon (Swe), Marcus Fraser (Aus)
75 Henrik Nystrom (Swe), Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Andrew Coltart, Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Sam Little, Bradley Dredge.
76 Daniel Chopra (Swe), Peter Whiteford, Francois Delamontagne (Fra), James Kamte (Rsa), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa)
78 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra)
79 Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Paul Streeter