Tour stars share the lead at Fairmont

England's Trish Johnson (above) and Becky Brewerton from Wales, the two biggest ‘names’ in the opening event of the PGA in Scotland Paul Lawrie Ladies Tartan Tour, underlined their class by sharing the lead at the end of the first day of the £6,000 36-hole event.

Both former Solheim Cup and Curtis Cup players matched the par of 72 over the Torrance Course at

Fairmont St Andrews and it could be a battle royal for the £2,500 first prize when they tee off together at 2pm in the final round.

There was a similarity about their first-round scorecards. Both deviated from par only four times.

Johnson birdied the first and seventh, bogeying the ninth and 17th in halves of 35-37.

Brewerton (below) birdied the long sixth and 15th but bogeyed the 12th and 17th for her 35-37.

Glasgow's Gemma Webster and Edinburgh's Vikki Laing are spearheading the Scottish challenge on the 73 mark, alongside rookie Welsh pro Amy Boulden, daughter of the Conwy Golf Club pro.

Webster's four birdies were twice as many as either of the leaders managed but she also had five bogeys in halves of 37-36.

If Laing had parred the second instead of running up a double bogey six she would have been the halfway leader but she bounced back from that potentially demoralising hole with a hat-trick of birdies from the fifth to the seventh and turned in 35. Her bogeys (three) outnumbered her birdies (one) in an inward 38 Boulden, one of the heroines of the GB and I Curtis Cup victory in June 2012 at Nairn, had two bogeys and three birdies in halves of 36-37.

Charlotte Austwick from Fulford, Yorkshire, is the leading amateur in the field on 74, the same score as Edinburgh-born Sally Watson, another one of several past Curtis Cup players in the quality field.

The first players tee off at 12.30 and the last three - Johnson, Brewerton and Webster - at 2.30.

Entry is free to all spectators.