Murphy cream of the Irish six-pack at Loch Lomond

GARY MURPHY has a good feeling for Loch Lomond having finished fourth last year, earning him a place in the following week's Open Championship.

He leads the six-strong Irish challenge after a splendid first round 68 yesterday in the Scottish Open and is more than a little aware that the leading non-exempt player here also goes on to Troon next week. However, the Kilkenny man isn't getting ahead of himself.

"It was a good, solid round even though I was a bit scratchy early on and had to hole a few tricky putts for pars at each of the first three", he said. "Loch Lomond is obviously a lot tougher but it puts me in mind of Mullingar. I won the Scratch Cup in my amateur days and always did well there. It's nice to go back to a course of which you have good memories. I finished in the early evening when the sun was shining on the mountains and lake and couldn't help but feel that this wasn't a bad way to make a living - provided you were making a living."