Leona Maguire one stroke off the lead after bright start at Scottish Open

Leona Maguire has been chopping and changing caddies of late but saw an immediate impact in having veteran bagman Phil “Wobbly” Morbey in the ISPS Handa Scottish Open, where an opening round 67, five-under-par, saw the Solheim Cup star trail leader Charlotte Laffar of England by one stroke at Dundonald Links.

Morbey caddied for Ian Woosnam in his Masters win back in 1991 and more recently for Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen, who has the same management company – Modest Golf – which led to the pairing.

“He’s a legend of the game. He’s caddied for some big players. I have big shoes to fill but nice to have his expertise and experience on the bag. It’s his first time on the ladies, so still a little bit of a learning adjustment for both of us but I think we handled it pretty well day one,” said Maguire, who started her bogey-free round by holing out with a 9-iron for eagle on the opening hole.

The event is a co-sanctioned tournament on the LPGA Tour and the LET and feeds into next week’s final Major, the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl.

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Maguire has moved into some form of late with a tied-seventh place finish in the Evian Masters and top-20s in the Dow Championship and the KPMG Women’s PGA to move inside the top-50 on the LPGA Tour order of merit.

“This is not the firmest but you still have to be creative with the wind and things like that. Hopefully the course will keep drying out as the week goes on and we’ll get more linksy,” said Maguire.

The Cavan golfer’s former caddie Dermot Byrne was on the bag for Irish Open winner Lottie Woad, competing as a professional for the first time. The 21-year-old shot a 67 to be in the five-way tie for second.

Of Woad’s impressive form and move onto the LPGA Tour through the pathway programme, Maguire said: “I’m sure there’s quite a bit of pressure on her but hopefully she’s surrounding herself with some good people.

“You saw with Rose Zhang a couple years ago, she got off to a very hot start too. There will be a lot of new things for her the next few weeks and months, but I’m sure she’s well able to handle it.”