Scottish Open: Francesco Molinari blitzes Castle Stuart

ITALIAN Francesco Molinari led the way with a brilliant course-record ten-under-par 62 as Castle Stuart succumbed to an avalanche of low-scoring in the opening round of the £2.5 million Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.

A combination of the sting having been taken out of the course by recent rain and benign conditions left the Inverness venue virtually defenceless and, at the end of the first day, a total of 122 players in a field of 156 were sitting on par or better.

Three-times Masters champion Phil Mickelson and Paul Lawrie, Scotland’s top-ranked player, were among the few who missed out on the low-scoring spree, the pair facing a battle to make the cut tonight after matching 73s left them sitting in a share of 123rd spot.

However, in a field boasting world No 1 Luke Donald and ten major champions, the majority of scorecards were awash with birdies on a day when Molinari set the pace with the lowest opening score on the European Tour this season. It also matched his best effort on the circuit.

The 29-year-old, who is bidding to emulate his younger brother, Edoardo, the winner at Loch Lomond three years ago, illuminated his round with a burst of nine birdies in 11 holes, taking up where he’d left off when closing with a 63, coming home in 29, to finish second in the French Open on Sunday.

For most of the day, it left the man from Turin three shots clear at the top of the leaderboard but, playing in one of the final groups, Spaniard Alejandro Canizares finished with six straight birdies to come home in 29 for a 64 to trim Molinari’s lead to two shots.

Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin and Dane Soren Kjeldsen are sharing third spot on 65, with Irish pair Shane Lowry and Peter Lawrie, Swedish duo Freddie Jacobsen and Alexander Noren, Englishmen Robert Coles and Andrew Marshall and India’s Jeev Milkha Singh all in a group a further shot back.

The day, however, belonged to Molinari, who played in the final group when his sibling lifted the title in 2009 and was in contention again when Edoardo followed that up by also winning the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles the

following year.

If Francesco wins this weekend it would be only the second time in European Tour history that brothers have won the same event. Spaniards German and Antonio Garrido were Madrid Open champions in 1973 and 1977 respectively.

“There’s still a long way to go, but it would be great if I could also win, not only because Edoardo has done it but because the Scottish Open is such a

great tournament,” admitted the leader.

“It would also be nice to do well this week for Edoardo as he has just had some surgery on his left wrist and is going to be out for a while. So it would be nice to cheer him up a little.”

Canizares also made a strong start in the battle for a £416,660 top prize after making a last-minute decision to ditch the belly putter he’d been using for a year.

“I went back to the short putter this morning,” revealed the 29-year-old from Malaga, who finished second in the Spanish Open in May but has missed the cut in four of his last six events.

“I was getting a little uncomfortable with the belly putter and, since everybody is talking about the possibility of them being banned, I thought it would be worth going back to the short putter.”

It proved an inspired decision as Canizares, having turned in one-under 35, then transformed his day with an incredible haul of seven birdies on the front nine after starting at the tenth.

“After finishing second in the Spanish Open, I had two months of boring golf and my attitude was a little down because I couldn’t score, even though I was hitting the ball pretty good,” he added.

While it was a disappointing day for Lawrie, playing partner Martin Laird is handily placed after a 68, which was matched by three other Scots – Stephen Gallacher, Marc Warren and Gary Orr.

On a day when Paul Casey’s woes continued – the former world No 3 is tied for 149th after a 76 that included a triple-bogey 8 at the 12th – three-times major winner Padraig Harrington

returned a 69 and Ernie Els a 70, which included four in a bunker for a double-bogey 7 at the long sixth.

The shot of the day was produced by England’s Andrew Johnston. His 69 included a hole-in-one on the 168-yard 11th that won him 168 bottles of champagne. “I think I’m going to have to give quite a few away or I’ll turn into an alcoholic,” he said.

Attendance for the first round was 11,343, which was just under the figure for the corresponding day 12 months ago.