Lottie Woad trails in Wales as Paul Lawrie relishes tough Aberdeen challenge

In her first outing as the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open champion, Woad birdied the last for a level-par 72, one better than defending champion Lydia Ko, who was playing in the same group.

“It was okay,” said Woad of her day’s work. “It was a bit mixed. Had a good amount of birdies; just few poor bogeys on the front nine that could have definitely been avoided. Nice to finish on par and birdie the last.”

The 21-year-old, who won the Smyth Salver for leading amateur in last year’s event at St Andrews, has ground to make up on Eri Okayama and Rio Takeda as the Japanese pair set the pace with matching 67s.

“Not really,” replied Woad to being asked if she was satisfied with her effort, “but it's one of those rounds that could have definitely gotten away from me. I am happy how I hung in there and got a decent round together.”

On a day when no less than six Japanese players signed for three under or better, world No 1 Nelly Korda opened with a 70 that contained three birdies and one bogey. “Overall, happy with my scorecard. I would say it was pretty clean,” said the American.

Gemma Dryburgh, the sole Scot in the field, had to settle for a 76 after dropping four shots in the last six holes while Melrose-born Australian Karis Davidson signed for the same score.

Elsewhere, Paul Lawrie and Stephen Gallacher both opened with two-over 74s in blustery conditions for the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship at Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen.

Local man Lawrie finished with a 6 after losing a ball with his second shot. “I actually think I played alright. It was a tough day and I scrambled well,” said the 1999 Open champion, who sits joint-12th, four shots behind paceseter Michael Jonzon.

“My 6 at the last was a good one, really. When you see the scoring you can see it wasn’t easy out there. But, as usual, I gave a couple of away at the end, which I've been doing a lot over the last couple of years. I don't know if that's just lack of play or fitness, but I'm not finishing off rounds very well.

“But I'm 56 and not 26, so that's going to happen. But it was still a good day even though it doesn’t feel like it just now, because I'm two-over when I've actually controlled my ball really well. But I’m right in there, there’s no doubt about that. Now I kind of hope the weather stays like this because it favours me.”

Meanwhile, host club members Sam Hall and Oliver Mukherjee are through to the last 16 in the Scottish Amateur Championship at Gullane.

Hall, last year’s Lothians champion, beat three-time Scottish PGA champion Chris Kelly to set up a clash with Inverurie’s Greg Ingram, who knocked out top seed Dominic McGlinchey.

Mukherjee, meanwhile, opened the match-play phase with a hard-earned win over Gregor Tait in a repeat of the 2022 final at Gailes Links before then beat Ben Murray.

Others still standing at the East Lothian venue include Battle Trophy winner Andrew Davidson, newly-crowned Lothians champion Jamie Duguid and Ross Laird, who played in this year’s Palmer Cup.