Mark Mouland took advantage of idyllic early morning conditions on the PGA Centenary Course to claim the lead in the Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship as the weather-affected first round came to a conclusion.
The 40 year old Welshman’s opening round was halted last night with four holes to play but he returned this morning to rattle in four par figures to give him a seven under par 65 and a one shot lead over Jonathan Lomas, who finished his round yesterday, and Gary Evans and Peter Fowler, who, like Mouland, had to come back and finish off this morning.
“I putted very nicely and scrambled well when I made mistakes,” said Mouland. “I missed the last three cuts after finishing fifth in the Smurfit European Open and maybe I was just expecting a bit much and it just wasn’t happening and the result was those missed cuts.
“So I just took a week off last week, didn’t really practice too much, just took it easy, so I’m delighted with this.”
With no weather delays on the second morning, hopes were high that by the end of play tonight the second round could be completed on schedule.
