Lee Westwood and Mark Tullo take the clubhouse lead at Barclays Scottish Open
Lee Westwood and Mark Tullo smashed a score of seven-under-par, 65 in the first round of Barclays Scottish Open to surge into a joint lead. The 140th edition of European Tour event is taking place at the par-72 Castle Stuart
Golf Links in Inverness, Scotland.
World number two Westwood teed-off from the back and reeled six birdies alongside an eagle to earn the top spot. The 38-year-old caught his first birdie on the par-5, 12th hole by using a driver on the fairway which helped
him reach the green in two shots. The veteran putted from 12 feet and relished success in carding the debut birdie of the tournament.
Leaving rest of the four holes at par, Westwood hurried to the 17th hole with an umbrella clamped in front of his face and rolled one more birdie before delighting the crowd with an eagle.
Winner of the Ballantines Championship, Westwood sealed the back nine with an eagle after he hit a 2-iron into the wind and saw it roll the ball into the cup.
Marching towards the front, the 21-time winner on European Tour clawed four more birdies against a single bogey and capped the rainy Thursday with a 65.
Commenting on his game, Westwood said, “I played well and it's a nice way to start the next two weeks. You're never quite sure what to expect when you come to a course that you've never played before. I did some nice work last week
on the range and hit a lot of shots out there that I probably couldn't have hit two or three weeks ago.”
This is Westwood’s first visit to Castle Stuart, which is why he was seen asking for directions on the course. The veteran later told the press, “The biggest problem I had was getting lost a couple of times. I couldn't find a couple
of tees, so I had to ask direction.”
The Englishman was joined by a pro from Chile, Tullo. Tullo chose to tee-off from the front and birdied the four opening holes to marvel the crowd with his perfect strokes. He reeled ten birdies in the day against three bogeys and
set a new record of carding the most birdies in the opening round of the competition.
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