STEWART SHARES LEAD IN SAUDI ARABIA

Duncan Stewart, pictured above, from Grantown on Spey is a long way from home this week - in Saudi Arabia to be precise - but his good form on the PGA EuroPro Tour is continuing. He shot a four-under-par 68 to share the lead with England's William Harrold, like Stewart a former US college circuit player, and Pakistan's Shafiz Masih, a former teaching pro at the Dirab Golf and Country Club venue for this week's MENA Tour event, the American Express Dirab Championship. "The pins were in some quicky tricky places so I'm very happy to come with a 68 from the first round," said Stewart who had a birdie at the eighth and an eagle at the ninth. Gavin Dear (Murrayshall) had a 73, Tom Drummond a 74 and Greg Nicolson (Mortonhall) a 75. AMERICAN EXPRESS DIRAB CHAMPIONSHIP Dirab Golf and Country Club, Saudi Arabia LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES Par 72 68 D Stewart (Sco), W Harrold (Eng), S Masih (Pak) 69 Z Scotland (Eng), A El Malki (Pak) (am) SELECTED SCORES 71 D Owen (Eng), Y Ali (Eng), I Keenan (Eng), D Marmion (Eng) 72 B Lee (Wal), J Housby (Eng) 73 G Dear (Sco), C Smith (Wal), J Westwood (Eng0, P Walker (Eng) 74 T Buchanan (Sco), R Dixon (Eng). 75 T Marshall (Eng), M Barrett (Eng), G Nicolson (Sco), D Wardrop (Eng).