Golf: Middling Catriona Matthew must up her game to retain title

Glasgow's Janice Moodie eagled the last for a 72 while Musselburgh's Vikki Laing was well in touch on 73.

On a day when a stiff breeze set a tough test for the world's best golfers, Taiwan's Yani Tseng and Australian Katherine Hull both eagled the long 18th to emerge at the head of the pack on four-under 68, one ahead of a group of four and two better than American Michelle Wie.

Matthew was out at 7.14am and her coach, Kevin Craggs, had risen at 3.30am in order to follow her every step. He pretty well summed up the round: "She hit the ball great, but just couldn't buy a putt. It could easily have been three or four shots better. But it's okay for the first round. I've been working with Catriona for a few months, and she really is a great striker of the ball. One of the best."

Using a relatively new putter, Matthew holed a four-foot birdie putt at the sixth, but it turned out to be her only gain of the day. She made bogeys at the fourth, eighth, tenth and 11th.

"I'm a little disappointed and I missed a lot of good chances out there. But it's not too bad," said the North Berwick 40-year-old. "It was very breezy, a good two-club wind.

"I was a little more nervous than usual on the first tee, but hit a great tee shot and that settled the butterflies."

Moodie rammed home a 30-foot eagle putt at the 18th for her 72. She played with South Korean Amy Yang, who celebrated her 21st birthday on the eve of the event and was one of the players in joint second on 69.

"It's nice that I can still keep up with the youngsters," joked Moodie, who has a three-year-old son. "Amy could be my daughter.'

Laing had expressed a liking for the famous Open Championship links before she teed off, and she proved it with a solid round highlighted by three birdies. Her only real damage was a double bogey at the short 12th where a tricky little run up shot rolled back into a bunker.

Laing, who won the Gettysburg Championship on the US Futures Tour in 2007, is enjoying easily her most consistent season as a professional. She finished second in the Swiss Open in June and has already won over 50,000 and stands in the top ten on the money list on the Ladies' European Tour.

Birdies at the second and fifth - from 15 and ten feet - put early starter Laing as the early leader. She then dropped shots at the eighth and tenth and had the horror of the 12th. But she immediately bounced back by holing a monster putt for a birdie at the 13th.

"It was a tough wind, but I will certainly take one over and I'm very happy," said Laing, who made the cut when Matthew won at Lytham last year.Hopefully, I can do even better in the second round."

"I was a little more nervous than usual on the first tee, but hit a great tee shot"