Golf: Early-riser Mouland snatches lead

Mark Mouland claimed the outright lead after completing his interrupted first round at the Scottish PGA Championship at Glenagles.

Mark Mouland claimed the outright lead after completing his interrupted first round at the Scottish PGA Championship at Gleneagles.

Sixty-six players were unable to finish their opening rounds on Thursday after three and a half hours play were lost due to early morning fog.

Mouland had just moved to seven under par with a birdie on the 14th when play was suspended and carded four pars when he returned at 7.30am for a seven-under-par 65.

That put him one stroke ahead of Jonathan Lomas and playing partner Gary Evans.

"To be honest I wish I could have carried on last night," said Mouland, who regained his card at the European Tour qualifying school last November.

"I thought I had the chance to birdie one of the two par fives to come but it didn't happen.

"I missed the cut in the last three tournaments and had to withdraw from the Wales Open with an infection in an impacted wisdom tooth.

"I took a week off last week, just took it easy and didn't practice much so I'm delighted with this.

"I've been, maybe, a bit too aggressive after finishing fifth in the European Open in Ireland, maybe expecting a bit much and it wasn't happening and the result was those missed cuts."

Mouland and Evans then had an hour to spare before beginning their second round.