Rafferty leads field at Scottish Senior Open

Ronan Rafferty led a scoring frenzy in the first round of the Prostate Cancer UK Scottish Senior Open at Archerfield Links.

The Northern Irishman went out in just 29 strokes, playing the back nine first of the Fidra Links that hosted the Paul Lawrie Matchplay event two weeks ago, but his 63 was only good for a one shot lead on Ireland’s Philip Walton.

The 52-year-old had visions of a 59, but a dropped shot at the fifth offset a birdie at the first and an eagle on the sixth – his second of the day after one at the 16th – meaning he had to settle for nine-under.

“I had a purple patch all of a sudden from the 14th hole to the first hole and hit some nice shots,” he said.

“We know from Paul’s event a few weeks ago that 16 is a tough green.

“I’ve always played it before as a bump and run, so I did that and it just went in, about 140 yards into the breeze.

“After that run, I thought to myself ‘wow, what happened in that last hour and a half?’

“If I had got to double figures (under par), I might have been panicking a bit,” he said.

Walton, the man who secured the winning point for Europe at Oak Hill in 1995, had a perfectly symmetrical 64 of

four-under on both halves.

“I’ve been playing in and out this season, to be honest,” he said.

“Some days have been very good and other days mediocre.

“I had a 64 in Switzerland and then shot a 68 in Germany on the second day. I’m shooting scores, but need to put it all together over a week.”

Australia’s Peter Fowler is in third on six-under with a group of four one shot behind him, including Barry Lane and Santiago Luna.

Best placed Scot is Andrew Oldcorn on four-under-par, alongside defending champion and recent Senior Open Championship winner Paul Broadhurst and 1991 Masters champion Ian Woosnam. Selected first round scores:

63 – R Rafferty (Nir). 64 – P Walton (Irl). 66 – P Fowler (Aus). 67 – M Harwood (Aus), M James (Eng), B Lane (Eng), S Luna (Esp).

68 – A Oldcorn (Sco), P Eales (Eng), P Broadhurst (Eng), I Woosnam (Wal), D Smyth (Irl).

69 – S Dodd (Wal), G Wolstenholme (Eng), G Marks (Eng), P Wesselingh (Eng), A Bossert (Sui), P Linhart (Esp).

70 – P Golding (Eng), J Kingston (RSA), K Tarling (Can), S Brown (Eng).

71 – B McGovern (Irl), M Farry (Fra), M Mouland (Wal), M Atlevi (Swe), B Longmuir (Sco), S Tinning (Den), T Thelen (USA), M Martin (Esp), G Brand Jr (Sco).