DUNCAN STEWART SHARES EUR0PRO TOUR LEAD AT MAR HALL

Grantown-on-Spey's Duncan Stewart and Englishman Warren Harmston share a one-shot lead after the opening round of the MarHall.com Scottish Classic.

Both signed for five-under-par 65s on the first day of the 54-hole 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour event at Mar Hall near Glasgow and lead Daniel Wardrop and Mark Laskey who are tied for third on four under par.

With a further 14 players just two shots off the lead, the tournament looks set to be one of the closest-fought contests of the 2012 campaign.

Stewart started at the 10th but was level par on completing his first nine holes after birdies at 12 and 17 were cancelled out by a double bogey at the par-five 15th, a hole which treated most other golfers well on the opening day, witnessing almost twice as many birdies as it did pars.

An eagle at the first got the Scot’s final nine off to a flyer and back-to-back birdies at three and four took him to four under before a three at the ninth saw him take the clubhouse lead.

Harmston (Wentworth Golf Club) had a more straight forward opening round than his co-leader. Also starting at the 10th, he made five birdies and 13 pars in an unblemished first 18.

Welshman Laskey is 13th on the Tour Order of Merit and a win this week could propel him as high as second, with the top five at the end of the season earning a category on the 2013 Challenge Tour.

Wardrop is 66th and is looking for his first top-ten finish of the season. Only the top 60 golfers are invited to compete in the season-final Tour Championship.

Laskey (Brocket Hall) made a confident start, registering birdies at three, five and nine to turn home three under par. Coming in he made eight pars and a birdie four at the 15th took him to four under par.

Manchester golfer Wardrop (Didsbury Golf Club) made birdie at eight but made really strides on the back nine, where four birdies were marred only by a bogey at 16. He negotiated the par-four 11th in three strokes and made consecutive birdies at 13, 14 and 15, though the five shots he took on the 16th cost him a share of the lead.

Among the 14 golfers two shots behind the leading pair of Stewart and Harmston are Stuart Manley (Machynys Peninsula) and Martin LeMesurier (South Winchester Golf Club).

Manley leads the Order of Merit after claiming victory at Rowallan Castle last week and a win at Mar Hall would all but guarantee he finished the summer among the top five Tour golfers. LeMesurier is fourth and could overtake Manley at the top should he win and the Welshman finished lower than 12th this week.

Elliot Saltman and George Woolgar (third and fifth respectively on the Order of Merit) are both among 15 golfers three shots off the lead.

The second round of the MarHall.com Scottish Classic gets underway at 7:30am on Thursday morning (August 9). Entry to the venue is free for spectators and live scoring is available at www.europrotour.com.

A cut will be made following Thursday’s play with the top 50 plus ties proceeding to play Friday’s final round.

TO VIEW ALL THE FIRST-ROUND SCORES AT MAR HALL

CLICK HERE