Marc Warren (AFP)
Marc Warren blasted his way to the top of the Johnnie Walker Championship leaderboard after a superb opening round on Thursday.
Warren, last season's Rookie of the Year, carded an eight-under-par round of 65 at Gleneagles to give him a one-shot lead over Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts.
It was a long overdue return to form for Warren, who has gone three months without a top-20 finish.
But he gave all the credit for the renaissance to his coach Bob Torrance, who steered Padraig Harrington to Open glory last month but has had a sometimes stormy relationship with Warren.
"I think it's sometimes easy to forget that Bob is in your corner," Warren said.
"A lot of times players want to take it out on him purely because he is there. The caddie gets it on the course and he gets it on the range.
"On Tuesday we were working away and it wasn't really the way I wanted it to be. I spoke to Bob later that night and we both agreed I was just frustrated the way I had been playing and it came to a head.
"Everything is fine now. He has an obscene talent for watching the golf swing. But he is human and everybody misses things."
A change to Warren's set-up helped him hit eight birdies on the par-73 Centenary Course as he missed his lowest round on the circuit by only one shot.
Warren is currently 69th on the Order of Merit, but he hopes success at Glenagles will help him beat last year's 42nd position finish and enable him to keep his place in Scotland's World Cup side.
After a 69, fellow Scot Colin Montgomerie is now among those chasing Warren, along with 2004 winner Miles Tunnicliff.
Indian Jeev Milkha Singh was boosted on the eve of the tournament when his clubs, missing for three days, were finally delivered to late on Wednesday night and he has a share of third place after birdies on the last three holes.
Shot of the day came from France's Thomas Levet. He hit a hole in one at the 208-yard 10th - only the second time someone has started a European Tour event with a hole-in-one.
© 2007 AFP/sid
