There’s a chasm between second in the world and 232nd, and the same distance between the expectations borne by Lee Westwood and Chile’s Mark Tullo but the pair lead the field after an entertaining first day of the Barclays Scottish Open at Castle Stuart.
The new venue brought a refreshing feel to the championship, the northern crowds turned out in large numbers as advertised and the scoreboard was plastered with every number from one to 10, but with the majority agreeably in red for under par.
The two leaders could hardly be from different ends of the game Westwood the established superstar looking for a major title at the Open next week to complete his career resume, Tullo from an outpost of the game just looking to keep playing golf as his everyday job.
Both shot 65s to set the new record for the course and lead by a shot from a trio including Ryder Cup player Peter Hanson, but the orgy of low scoring is shown by the 14 players including four Scots on five-under and 86 players lying under par.
Both leading scores were set in the morning play which was marginally easier, Westwood in the vanguard establishing the mark first.
The world number two has always walked upright and chest out, but now he has thrashed away in the gym to look impressively ripped he moves almost like a toy robot across the turf, eating up the yards while rattling off the birdies and relentlessly gathering those world ranking points.
His purposeful style masked a little loss of a sense of direction.
Westwood said, “I couldn’t find a couple of the tees out there.
“I only played 10 holes in practice because of the miserable conditions yesterday, so I ended up getting lost a couple of times.”‘Not about records’He added, “There was a nice naivete to my play out there today and 65 is a great round.
“It’s not about records, though it’s about getting into contention to win the Scottish Open.”
A birdie-eagle finish to the back half his first nine propelled him up the leaderboard and it was not until the seventh that he finally dropped a shot in another consistent display.
Westwood said, “You can’t have many bad weeks and be in this position.
“When I play well I’m in contention, and when I play badly it seems I’m still top 20.
“My bad golf is actually quite good I just need to make sure my good golf is the same, relatively.”
Tullo thinks his name is Scottish, and wants a kilt for the prizegiving on Sunday.
“I don’t know if there’s a Tullo tartan, but if you guys can find one I’d wear it on Sunday that would be awesome,” said the 33-year-old, the oldest rookie on the European Tour.
He has very little experience of links golf, growing up in Chile where they have only two courses that are affected by wind at all.
Tullo said, “I have no experience, but I hit the ball low, I have good imagination and a good short game.
“Ten birdies on this course is really good, but I had fun.
“I laughed at good shots and at bad shots.”‘No pressure’Son of an English father and Dutch mother who moved to Chile, Tullo is well aware of his status.
“Nobody should know me because I haven’t done anything and the others have done everything,” he said.
“I have no pressure on me, everyone wants to see and talk about the other guys, so hopefully that will continue for the next three days.”
Not everyone had a ball, with Phil Mickelson so glowing in his praise for the course to the point of asking tour chief George O’Grady to campaign for a World Golf Championship designation shooting a one-over 73.
Fellow American Brandt Snedeker had a 77 with contrasting halves of eight-over and three-under, while Matt Kuchar was the best of the transatlantic visitors with a modest two-under 70.
And all those varying numbers?
The one was Philip Price’s ace at the 11th which won him a bottle of champagne for each of the 168 yards his ball covered.
The 10 was recorded by another former Ryder Cup player, Ignacio Garrido, on the long 12th.
But proving golf is unpredictable, the Spaniard shot a par 72 despite that aberration one shot better than Price with his hole-in-one.