Clarke remains in picture for wild card

Darren Clarke kept himself firmly in contention for a Ryder Cup wild card come Sunday with a solid start at the Johnnie Walker Championship. Clarke was satisfied with a one-under par 72 that leaves him just four behind first round leader Gregory Havret.

Some suspect that the reason Paul Casey and Ian Poulter have stayed in the States this week is that they are the favourites for Nick Faldo's two captain's picks.

But that is out of the control of the likes of Clarke, Colin Montgomerie and even Paul McGinley. Of the three players, Clarke fared best at Gleneagles while Montgomerie said a 74 "by no means" put him out of things, but McGinley could do no better than 76.

Lee Westwood, meanwhile, called for the greens on the 2014 Ryder Cup course at Gleneagles to be ripped up.

Already safely into Nick Faldo's side himself, he feels sympathy for those still battling for inclusion and having to do so on what he clearly considers greens from Hell.

And this in such a heavenly part of the world.

"I said last year that the greens were awful and something needed to be done," he stated after a round which included a four-putt double bogey at the 461-yard fifth.

The second of those was from less than two feet and he added: "I'm not a bad putter and I can't remember the last time I three-putted from 18 inches.

"At the end of the week unfortunately the tournament could be won or lost by luck on the greens."

And so, of course, could somebody's Ryder Cup fate.

"They are the people I feel really sorry for. There is a lot riding on that. They are going to be feeling pressure as it is and you don't want to be standing over a three-footer with so much doubt in your mind not knowing if the ball is going to run straight."

Playing with Westwood was Oliver Wilson, in the 10th and last automatic qualifying spot entering the week and under threat from Martin Kaymer, Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty.

Wilson, also double-bogeying the fifth, managed only a three over 76, but so did Kaymer after losing a ball at the 320-yard 14th and taking six there.

Fisher did better with a 72, but he has to finish third to have a chance, while Dougherty, who needs first or second place, battled away for a 73.

Justin Rose and Soren Hansen are not yet safe at eighth and ninth on the points table, but by scoring level par and two under respectively they have no cause to lose any sleep yet.

Collated first round scores in the European Tour Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, Gleneagles GC, Perthshire, Scotland

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in bold, par 73):

68Gregory Havret (Fra)

70Christian Cevaer (Fra), Robert Rock, Gary Orr, Paul Broadhurst

71Martin Wiegele (Aut), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Anthony Wall, Soren Hansen (Den), Benoit Teilleria (Fra), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Bradley Dredge

72Juan Abbate (Arg), Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Ross Fisher, Darren Clarke, Gareth Paddison (Nzl), Lee S James, Jonathan Lomas, Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Lee Westwood

73Francesco Molinari (Ita), Michael Campbell (Nzl), Peter Whiteford, Paul Waring, Nick Dougherty, Pelle Edberg (Swe), Simon Dyson, David Lynn, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Johan Edfors (Swe), Justin Rose, Marc Warren, Ariel Canete (Arg), Mark Foster

74Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Colin Montgomerie, Matthew Millar (Aus), Marcel Siem (Ger), Graeme Storm, Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Peter Hanson (Swe), Sion Bebb, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Sam Osborne, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)

75Luis Claverie (Spa), Peter Lawrie, David Orr, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Stephen Gray, Paul McKechnie, Pedro Linhart (Spa), Jamie Donaldson, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Santiago Luna (Spa), Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Peter Fowler (Aus), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Garry Houston, Chris Wood, Anton Haig (Rsa), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Peter Baker, David Howell, Scott Drummond, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Stuart Manley, Stephen Gallacher, Gary Murphy

76Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Oliver Wilson, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Oliver Fisher, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Rory McIlroy, Iain Pyman, Sam Little, Steve Alker (Nzl), Greig Hutcheon, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Robert Arnott, Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Lloyd Saltman, Sam Walker, Paul Lawrie, Paul McGinley, Barry Lane, Philip Golding

77Mark Loftus, Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Benn Barham, Phillip Price, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa), Julio Zapata (Arg), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Lee Slattery, David Drysdale, Pablo Martin (Spa), Thomas Levet (Fra)

78 Damien McGrane, David Griffiths, Steven Mcewan, Peter Hedblom (Swe), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Simon Wakefield, Michael Jonzon (Swe), Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Hennie Otto (Rsa), Steve Webster, Graeme McDowell, Jan Are Larsen (Nor), Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Mark Brown (USA), Tom Whitehouse, Phillip Archer, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Peter O'Malley (Aus)

79Joakim Backstrom (Swe), Bryan Saltus (USA), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Henrik Nystrom (Swe), Joost Luiten (Ned), Simon Khan, Sam Cairns, David Dixon, Alastair Forsyth, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Florian Praegant (Aut)

80Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Jason McCreadie, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe), Kyron Sullivan, Danny Willett, Carl Suneson (Spa), Sven Struver (Ger), Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Edoardo Molinari (Ita)

81Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Miles Tunnicliff

82Paolo Terreni (Ita), Robert Dinwiddie, Keir Mcnicoll, Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Mardan Mamat (Sin)

83Craig Lee, Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Richard Finch, James Kamte (Rsa)