Mickelson makes early move at Castle Stuart

Phil Mickelson’s attempt to fight his way back into the Scottish Open was given a huge boost this morning when he holed a 60-yard shot on his very first hole.

The three-time Masters champion was not even in the top 120 after an opening one over par 73 at Castle Stuart left him 11 strokes behind leader Francesco Molinari.

Making an eagle two at the 363-yard 10th instantly moved him up 37 places, although he was still outside the predicted halfway cut mark.

The early drama also included a hole-in-one by Scot Peter Whiteford at the 168-yard 11th to take him to five under – but the prize of 168 bottles of champagne was claimed yesterday by England’s Andrew Johnston.

Molinari was among the later starters and in a week of low scoring he probably expected to see himself overtaken before he resumed.

Dubliner Peter Lawrie was one of those with a chance to take over at the top and a hat-trick of birdies from the 13th – his fourth – put him only one behind on nine under par.