Otaegui leads Wallace in Scotland

Adrian Otaegui retains a three-shot lead after the starting round of the Scottish Championship introduced by AXA, with Matt Wallace and Padraig Harrington part of the running after pack.

Otaegui created a sparkling display on his method to a bogey-free 62 at Fairmont St Andrews, posting 10 birdies in cold conditions to set a club target that couldn’t be matched up.

Wallace is in the share of second alongside Southern Africa’s Bryce Easton after birdieing his first three holes in the way to a seven-under 65, along with Ryder Cup captain Harrington another shot back alongside English trio Aaron Rai, Chris Paisley plus Garrick Porteous.

Matt Wallace may move back inside the world’s best 50 this week

“Almost everything went well nowadays, ” Otaegui said. “I putted really well, I also played very well through tee to green and experienced confident and relaxed – sixty two is really, really good. ”

Otaegui followed birdies on his 1st three holes by picking up an attempt at the seventh and adding the hat-trick of gains from the twelfth, before firing his close to kick-in range at the par-four 15th.

Adrian Otaegui is seeking his first win since the 2018 Belgian Knockout

The world No 248 rolled within a 15-footer at the par-three 17th then got up down from the final green to make a closing birdie, seeing him close a back-nine 30 and get to 10 below.

Wallace made the four-foot birdie at the first plus picked up shots over his following two holes, with the Englishman holing a long-range eagle at the 6th and almost making a hole-in-one at the par-three eighth.

Wallace submitted the joint-low round of the mid-day starters

Right after reaching the turn in 30, Wallace took advantage of the par-five twelfth but was unable to add any further birdies in his blemish-free card, with Easton moving alongside him late within the day after finishing his opening-round 65 with two birdies in the last four holes.

Paisley birdied three of their final five holes to get to 6 under, with Scottish Open champ Rai recovering from an opening-hole bogey to also get that number and Harrington mixing seven birdies with a single bogey to also get within 4 shots of the lead.

Shelter Westwood opened with a five-under 67 and is in the group tied-eighth that will also includes Scottish trio Marc Warren, Ewen Ferguson and Scott Jamieson, while home favourite Robert MacIntyre struggled to a first-round 79.

Watch the particular Scottish Championship presented by AXA throughout the week live on Sky Sports activities! Live coverage continues on Fri from 12. 30pm on Skies Sports Golf.