Spotlight on Drummond

There was no hiding place for Scott Drummond at the start of the Diageo Championship at Gleneagles today – not that he seemed to need one.

When he was 435th in the world Drummond went about his work with few eyes on him. But then came his stunning victory in the Volvo PGA championship two weeks ago.

The 30-year-old Scot – raised in Shropshire and based now in Devon – was paired with defending champion Soren Kjeldsen and Ryder Cup Swede Pierre Fulke for the opening two rounds of the £1.4m (€2.1m) event.

And after five holes he was doing better better than either of them.

A birdie at the long 12th, his fourth hole of the day, was sandwiched between four pars and that left Drummond two behind early pacesetter Nick O’Hern, of Australia.

Kjeldsen and Fulke, meanwhile, were level par and over on the front nine New Zealander Stephen Scahill was already six over following double bogeys at both the second and third with bogeys on the next two.

Colin Montgomerie and Paul Lawrie – the only player in the field also competing in next week’s US Open – were among the later starters.

Left-hander O’Hern’s birdies at the 11th, 12th and 14th put him one ahead of Doncaster’s Ian Garbutt, Leicester’s Matthew Cort and Swede Mattias Nilsson.