Dunbar’s new record leads way on day of low scoring

But, while Eichenried in Munich, where Ernie Els led a low-scoring spree in the opening round of the BMW International Open, is regarded as a soft touch, the same certainly can’t be said for Macdonald Spey Valley.

At 7,100 yards, and with fairways lined with heather, the Aviemore course has been anything but a pushover in four previous stagings of the Scottish Hydro Challenge.

Yesterday, however, in benign conditions in the shadow of  the Cairngorms, the so-called B division in European golf produced some electrifying scoring as the latest instalment of the event got underway.

The main surge came in the morning as Alan Dunbar, the 23-year-old Northern Irishman who won the Amateur Championship at Royal Troon in the same week 12 months ago, set a new course record for the Dave Thomas-designed layout with a nine-under-par 62 then, within half an hour, he saw it matched by South Korean Byeong-hun An.

Those efforts trimmed two shots off the previous best set by Englishman Steve Surry in the final round in 2009, a score also beaten yesterday by Spaniard Sebi Garcia, who lists climbing mountains among his hobbies and was clearly feeling at home in the Highlands as he scaled the heights of the leaderboard with a 63.

“I never thought I’d see scoring like that round here,” confessed local lad Duncan Stewart after the 29-year-old from Grantown-on-Spey came in with a six-under 65 late in the day to secure the honour of being the leading home player in a 26-strong Scottish contingent in joint fourth. “I know the course is playing shorter due to it being so bouncy but you still have to be careful off the tee and some of the front pin positions out there are also quite tricky.”

A graduate from the third-tier EuroPro Tour last year, Stewart described the standard on the Challenge Tour as “incredible”.

He added: “It’s the depth throughout that is most amazing. On the EuroPro Tour, you had 20-25 good players but out here 95 per cent of the guys can win it.”

Enjoying the fact that he’s sleeping in his own bed this week and only has a 15-minute journey from home, Stewart reckoned his eight-birdie effort was just as satisfying as a 63 in La Gomera at the start of the month. “This feels as good because I was struggling yesterday and didn’t know what to expect, but I spent a couple of hours on the range last night and it seemed to pay off,” he said.

Trips to Scotland have paid off on a regular basis for Dunbar, who won the St Andrews Links Trophy under his own steam and also helped Great Britain & Ireland win the Walker Cup at Royal Aberdeen before landing the amateur game’s blue-riband title on the Ayrshire coast last year. “This country has been good to me and people always say I’m Scottish anyway due to my accent,” said the joint leader, who, teeing off at the 11th, started with back-to-back bogeys but then produced a stunning 11-birdie salvo, including five in a row from the 15th. So “in the zone” was he that Dunbar, who joined the paid ranks in April after a swansong as an amateur at The Masters, admitted afterwards he’d been oblivious to that scoring spurt.

The man alongside him at the top of the leaderboard also made his mark in the amateur ranks. On reflection, however, Orlando-based An reckons becoming the youngest US Amateur champion at 17 in 2009 was a hindrance rather than a help with his career. “I set goals that were too high, I guess,” admitted the 21-year-old after a blemish-free effort. “But I’m still young enough and have learned to be patient.”

Both his parents won medals for table tennis at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but An has always felt more comfortable with a golf club in his hand than a ping pong bat. “I’m not really any good at table tennis so I’ll stick to golf,” he declared, admitting he felt a good day was in the offing as early as the first hole. There, in the opening round last year, he hooked a 3-iron out of bounds and ran up a double-bogey six but, this time, it yielded a confidence-boosting birdie. “When I came back on Monday I looked at the first hole and said, ‘this is wide so there’s no way I’m going out of bounds again’,” he said.

On a day when 78 players broke par, 2009 winner Jamie McLeary is tucked in behind the leaders on five-under, alongside fellow Team Scottish Hydro member Jack Doherty, whose younger brother Paul is a shot further adrift, while George Murray, bidding to repeat his win here two years ago, and two-times European Tour winner Alastair Forsyth both opened with 69s.