Jamieson and Gaunt move clear in Russia
 EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Glasgow's Scott Jamieson, pictured above in action today,  and Australia’s Daniel Gaunt moved into a share of the first round lead at the M2M Russian Open as they signed for a pair of six under par 65s at Skolkovo Golf Club to finish the day one shot clear of the chasing pack.
Jamieson’s flawless round included a run of four consecutive birdies just after the turn, having opened with a birdie at the tenth, his first, before picking up another shot at the par four 13th.
Gaunt, who claimed a career-best tied runner-up finish at the Made in Denmark two weeks ago, had a more colourful card as he reached the turn in three under before four birdies, an eagle and a double bogey on the back nine took him home in 36 shots.
Closest in chase were Lee Slattery of England and Welshman Bradley Dredge, who both carded five under rounds of 66, while defending champion David Horsey was one of the eight players a shot further back on four under as the Englishman chases a second victory in the space of three weeks, following his recent triumph in Denmark.

Player quotes:

Scott Jamieson (65, -6)
“The birdie putt at nine was looking good but it was just a relief to see it settle just a foot from the hole. It’s a tough hole today, playing into the wind with a back pin so three is a good score there.
“It’s probably a typical Nicklaus course. There’s a bit of room off the tee but you have to be really careful with your approach shots to the greens.
“If you get slightly out of position it can get really tough so I’m trying to follow Jack’s philosophy of middle of the green and take it from there.=“I feel you have to play away from the flags sometimes, that’s the way to approach it, but it’s quite an unnatural thing to do.
“It’s flawless, probably the best conditions we’ve seen all year. There’s hardly a blade of grass out of place anywhere across the whole estate so it’s a pleasure to come and play.”

Daniel Gaunt (65, -6)
“It was a good bounce back on the 16th and 18th there after a double bogey at 15. Apart from that I played great golf today. I holed loads of putts and started with a load of one-putts.
“I had a great chip in at the 12th. I bombed a driver and then cut a little three-wood in because the hybrid was going to go the opposite way so I missed it just right and committed to the chip and it just ran out perfectly, right in the middle.
“I’ve been playing well. Last week, I wasn’t stressed about missing the cut. I got told I was playing great golf and I just came out here believing that now and if I can keep that up, one shot at a time and the results will take care of themselves.”

Lee Slattery (66, -5)
“The last couple of weeks I’ve slightly improved as I’ve gone along and I wouldn’t say I played my best today but I hit the ball pretty straight, took my chances well and 66 was a fair score.
“I made a couple of good up and downs out of bunkers today and I got quite fortunate that they came off the lip quite hard and come out, giving me a shot out. But I’ve seen a couple of lads go into the traps today plugged and there’s been no shot, so you can get penalised if you go in them.
“You just have to avoid the traps and the greens are so pure that if you hit it to the right spots you can make a few putts.”

Bradley Dredge (66, -5)
“I’m very pleased with five under, it’s a good score around here today. It got a bit tricky at times, we had some breeze and a bit of rain, so a couple of things to contend with but overall a good score.
“Obviously it’s only round one and there’s a long way to go, but you can certainly put yourself out of it on the first day so I played steady apart from a couple of poor shots around the turn. Other than that, a good solid round.
“I think it’s a really good course to play and enjoy because it is generous off the tee, but then it’s a really good challenge into the greens.”

David Horsey (67, -4)
“I played nicely out there, drove it pretty well, which is pretty easy to do around here, it’s pretty much a second shot golf course where you have to get your approaches in close. You can also short-sight yourself and make some silly mistakes but fortunately I only managed to do that once today, I left myself with a tough up and down on the second but all in all I’m pleased with the start.
“You just try and shut out (any pressure being defending champion), at the end of the day, it was a year ago now and although I won last year there are still 150 guys here who can win this year.
“I just have to focus on myself and go out and play my golf and see if it’s good enough come the end of the week.”

FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 71
65 D Gaunt (Aus) , S Jamieson  (Sco)
66 B Dredge (Wal) , L Slattery (Eng)
67 B Evans  (Eng) , P Pittayarat (Tha) , T Chuayprakong (Tha) , S Hutsby  (Eng) , T Murray (Eng) , C Lee (Sco) , D Horsey (Eng) , K Horne (RSA) ,
68 K Samooja (Fin) , M Lampert (Ger) , M Southgate  (Eng) , S Griffiths (Eng) , P Martin Benavides (Esp) , M Kieffer (Ger) , J Randhawa (Ind) , E Goya (Arg) , C Bouniol (Fra) , P Meesawat  (Tha) , E Espana (Fra) , A Summers (Aus) , J Roos (RSA) , D Drysdale (Sco) , R Gangjee (Ind) , M Nixon (Eng) ,
69 M Tullo (Chi) , R Lynch (Aus) , T Wiratchant (Tha) , P Junhasavasdikul (Tha) , J Lando Casanova  (Fra) , B Stow (Eng) , H Satama (Fin) , D Van Tonder  (RSA), C Lloyd (Eng) , S Hansen (Den) , R Gonzalez (Arg) , M Suursalu (Est) , S Wakefield (Eng) , J Colomo  (Esp) , D Vancsik (Arg), P Holland (Eng) , J Smith (Eng) , O Henningsson  (Swe) , M Bremner (RSA) ,
70 L Jensen (Den) , N Kearney (Irl) , S Norris  (RSA) , J Scrivener (Aus) , N Johansson (Swe) , J Heath  (Eng) , S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) , A Pavan (Ita) , M Mamat (Sin) , D McGrane (Irl) ,
71 O Farr (Wal) , M Hoey  (Nir) , R McGowan  (Eng) , D Frittelli (RSA) , A Tadini (Ita) , G Snow  (Ken) , J Blaauw  (RSA) , C Doak (Sco) , D Kemmer (USA) , J Edfors (Swe) , P Lawrie (Irl) , K Phelan (Irl) , P Dedek (am) (Cze) ,
72 B Paolini (USA) , A Da Silva (Bra) , T Van Der Walt (RSA) , A Gee  (Eng) , B Casey  (Irl) , T Innes-Ker (Sco) , J Ahlers (RSA) , S Brazel (Aus) , M Brown (Nzl) , S Chawrasia (Ind) , A Curlewis (RSA) , C Pigem (Esp) ,
73 J Higginbottom (Aus) , D Coupland (Eng) , P Erofejeff (Fin) , J Knutzon (USA) , M Rominger  (Sui) , P Peterson (USA) , J Lara (Esp) , A Pavlov (Rus) , E Molinari  (Ita) , C Costilla (Arg) , J Walters (RSA) , J Janewattananond (Tha) , P Karmis  (RSA) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , J Wang (SKor) , R Dinwiddie  (Eng) , L Tintera  (Cze) ,
74 T Sluiter  (Ned) , S Lewton (Eng) , K Joshi (Ind) , K Richardson (Aus) , H Bacher (Aut) , R Santos  (Por) , N Holman  (Aus) , S Dartnall (Aus) , J Estevez  (Arg) , V Phillips (Eng) , V Osipov (Rus) ,
75 A Townsend (Aus), T Kaewsirbandit (Tha), C Del Moral (Esp) , F Cea (Esp) , P Goryainov (Rus) , L Corfield  (Eng) , D Woltman (USA) , L Weber (Fra) , D Tuleubayev (am) (Kaz) ,
76 J Legarrea (Esp) ,
77 Y Kafelnikov (Rus) , J Garcia Del Moral (Esp) , L Tighe (Aus) , D Suchan  (Cze) , A Velasco (Esp) , C Sutherland (Sco) , C Ilic (am) (Srb) ,
78 W Murillo (Ven) , P McIntyre (RSA) , A Yalovenko (am) (Rus)
79 S Dundas (Sco)
80 G Baumann  (Sui) , G Bhullar (Ind) ,
81 D Nagiev (am) (Rus) ,
82 P Gal  (Cze) , N Ponomarev (am) (Rus) ,
86 S Pereltsveyg (am) (Rus) ,
91 C Lescut (Bel) ,