Lloyd Saltman leading charge for Tour place

Scotland's Lloyd Saltman. Picture: Jane Barlow

Bidding to regain the card he held in 2011, the Archerfield Links player carded an  eight-under-par 64 at the Kelso course to immediately open up a two-shot lead in the four-round event.

Kirkhill’s Paul Shields is lying second, with two other home hopefuls, Neil Fenwick (Dunbar) and Dollar amateur Scott Borrowman, in a group sitting two shots further back in joint third.

Having started at the tenth, Saltman, who celebrates his 29th birthday today, bagged six  birdies on his front nine to be out in 31 then bounced back from the second of his bogeys by finishing with three birdies.

Playing the course the right way round, Shields, a two-times beaten finalist in the Scottish Boys’ Championship, signed for seven birdies, three of which came in his last four holes.

Fenwick, who has produced some eye-catching performances on the PGA EuroPro Tour  this season, made his score by coming home in 32, picking up four of the five birdies in his round in that stretch.

Borrowman, winner of the Scottish Champion of Champions for the last two years, also took nine holes to get going. Out in one-over after starting at the tenth, he then reeled off five birdies in six holes from  the second.

Alongside the two Scots on four under are English trio Kris Gray, George Thacker and Luke Joy, the latter having matched Borrowman’s 31 for the front nine.

In the first of 14 rounds  standing between hopefuls and a place on the European Tour, others to make promising starts included Dunbar amateur Zander Culverwell and highly-rated South African Thriston Lawrence.

They both signed for 69s to sit joint eighth in a group that also includes Englishman Jamie Moul, who took up where he’d left off when finishing second at the same venue 12 months ago.

On a day when 33 players – nearly half the field broke par – Scottish trio Paul McKechnie, Stephen Gray and Philip McLean all opened with 70s to sit just ahead of five compatriots – Craig Lawrie, James Byrne, Kris Nicol, Paul Doherty and Fraser McKenna. Elliot Saltman,  however, starts the second round ten shots behind his younger brother while others with work on their hands after a sluggish start include Ted Innes Ker, the Duke of Roxburghe’s son, and John Singleton, the Wallasey factory worker who qualified for this year’s Open Championship.

“Played decent today, even though my week old daughter can putt better than me,” wrote Singleton on Twitter after a  four-over 76 – one more than Innes Ker – left him tied for 62nd.