Mark Tullo from Chile tied for the first round lead on six under par at the Scottish Hydro Challenge at Spey Valley, despite only arriving in Aviemore at 10pm on Wednesday due to his Malaga flight being delayed by the French air-traffic controllers’ strike.
The 2011 Scottish Open first round leader, who eventually tied for third place at Castle Stuart, said: “I was supposed to be here at 2pm on Tuesday so it was a nightmare getting here. Luckily I had played here a couple of times before but I’m pretty sore from sitting around for so long.
“It took me 30 hours to get here from Malaga, I spent the night in Gatwick and the following morning the plane didn’t take off from there. I thought about getting a train from London because I was worried I might not make the tournament, but luckily enough I got here in the end.”
Tullo shares the lead on six under with Jason Barnes from Kent who hit the first tee shot at 7.30am, and also carded a bogey-free opening round 65.
Barnes believed that his early-morning start set him up well when he said: “We were first out in a three-ball and all of us are quick players, so once we all got into our stride it was really easy to keep the rhythm and momentum going. This is much different to what I am used to, there is no noise and no traffic, it’s brilliant.”
There is a posse of players on five under. English quartet Sam Little, Andrew Johnston, Robert Coles and Lee Corfield were joined by French pair Michael Lorenzo-Vera and Eduard Espana, and Dane Thomas Norret.
After carding a competitive four under par 67, leading Scot, Banchory’s Greig Hutcheon, said: “It was a good score, I didn’t drive the ball all that well but I kept it just away from the heather, so I’m happy.”
Another member of the Paul Lawrie stable, Fraserburgh’s Kris Nicol, came in with a two under 69, one shot behind Comrie’s Wallace Booth.
Late in the day Aberdonian David Law shot level par 71, Banchory’s James Byrne is on two over, Paul Lawrie’s elder son Craig is a shot worse off on three over while Duncan Stewart from Grantown carded a four over par 75.