GLENEAGLES, August 25, 2011 (AFP) - England's Mark Foster ignored the threat of being stung to set the pace in the first round of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles with a six-under-par 66 on Thursday.
Although his only European Tour victory remains eight years ago, Foster's season is shaping up to be easily his best yet and not even a problem with wasps and bees could prevent him from making a flying start.
Foster is one shot clear of Spain's Ignacio Garrido and Argentina's Tano Goya, who were tied in second place at five under par, although several players are still to finish the fog-delayed opening round.
However, it was the possibility of being stung by the numerous wasps and bees that plagued the Scottish course that posed the greatest danger to Foster.
"I remember having to make a birdie putt with a wasp on the ball," Foster said.
"It's going to come off when you hit it and I just felt in a good place, so I hit the putt."
The former English amateur champion had two more birdies on the front nine, but there were two bogeys as well which allowed Garrido to close the gap.
Play did not begin until 0910GMT - 160 minutes later than planned - and it meant the first round spilled into a second day.
Among the later starters were former European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie and his successor Jose Maria Olazabal.
After eight holes they were both one under, although Montgomerie had been three under after a birdie at the first and then eagle on the long second.
Leading and selected first round scores in the European Tour Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles on Thursday (GBR/IRL unless stated, par 72):
Note: Play suspended for the day due to bad light. First round will resume at 0630GMT on Friday with 51 players on the course
66 - Mark Foster
67 - Tano Goya (ARG), Ignacio Garrido (ESP)
68 - Felipe Aguilar (CHI), Thomas Bjorn (DEN), Peter Lawrie
69 - Richard Bland, John Parry, Chris Wood, Robert Coles, Richard McEvoy, Victor Dubuisson (FRA), Raphael Jacquelin (FRA), Thomas Norret (DEN), Lorenzo Gagli (ITA)
70 - Francesco Molinari (ITA), Oliver Wilson, Simon Dyson, Pablo Larrazabal (ESP), Joel Sjoholm (SWE), Marc Warren, Alastair Forsyth, Wade Ormsby (AUS), Simon Thornton, Miles Tunnicliff, Pablo Martin (ESP), Jeppe Huldahl (DEN), Hennie Otto (RSA), Matthew Nixon, Seve Benson, Gareth Wright, Romain Wattel (FRA), Jamie Donaldson, Alexandre Kaleka (FRA)
71 - Christian Cevaer (FRA), Gary Orr, Steve Webster, Anders Hansen (DEN), Ross Fisher, Soren Hansen (DEN), Callum Macaulay, Emanuele Canonica (ITA), Christopher Doak, Bradley Dredge
72 - Joakim Haeggman (SWE), Noh Seung-yul (KOR), Shiv Kapur (IND), Jason McCreadie, Oliver Fisher, Jordi Garcia (ESP), Robert Rock, Alejandro Canizares (ESP), Ariel Canete (ARG), Adrian Otaegui (ESP)
Selected:
73 - Anthony Kang (USA)
74 - Matthew Zions (AUS), Keith Horne (RSA), Paul McGinley, Edoardo Molinari (ITA)
75 - Mark Brown (NZL), Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND)
76 - Marcus Both (AUS), Jbe Kruger (RSA)
77 - George Coetzee (RSA)
78 - Shaun Norris (RSA)