August 16-18
Craigielaw Golf Club, Craigielaw, Longniddry, Scotland
£250,000
Round 2, Round 3

Paul Lawrie holds a one-shot lead at the end of day one at the Scottish Senior Open at Craigielaw Golf Club.

The 1999 Open Champion, who is making his Scottish Senior Open debut and playing the East Lothian links for the first time, recorded a three under par round of 68 to top the leaderboard after the first round.

The Scotsman started quickly with two birdies in his opening three holes and picked up another gain on the ninth hole to card a three under par, bogey-free front nine.

The eight-time European Tour winner, who has won twice on Scottish links, continued his charge up the leaderboard with a birdie on the par four 12th before dropping his only shot of the day on the 15th to set the clubhouse target at three under par.

With the wind gusting and the rain falling all day on the Scottish golf coast, Lawrie was delighted with his opening round of 68, especially in the testing conditions.

“I managed to get in the house at three under par and I’m pretty chuffed with that because it wasn’t easy today,” he said. “It’s a good start. I played nicely. I was at four under for a bit but dropped a shot coming in, as my back was a little bit stiff with five or six holes to go, which is what has been happening as of late.

“I hit a lot of nice iron shots in the wind. It is always hard to get the ball pin high when the wind is blowing this hard. It’s just as hard downwind as it is into the wind. I drove the ball very well and only hit a couple of poor ones towards the end when my back was getting a bit sore.

“The first hole is a driveable par four and the second hole is a par five that you can play with an iron if the wind is in the right direction, so you can get off to a nice start. There are a lot of good holes and a lot of holes out there which don’t play as easy and they can get you. Anything under par on a day like today is a good effort.”

A stroke behind Lawrie is a group of three players, including 2019 Qualifying School winner Tim Thelen, and Spanish duo José Manuel Carriles and Miguel Angel Martin, who all carded two under par rounds of 69.

Ten players share fifth place at one under par after round one, including Scotsmen Ross Drummond and Bill Longmuir, who won the Scottish Senior Open title in 2004.

The second round will begin at 9:00am local time with Lawrie teeing off at 11:10am from the tenth tee.