Gullane, Scotland …

It was very much a case of two contrasting nines for Masters champion, Patrick Reed on day one of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.

Reed pared the first but then cut a swath through the field with five birdies in succession from the second hole on the Gullane composite course.

And while Reed birdied the ninth he played his back nine in one-over taking a bogey on 16 for his eventual five-under par 65 that handed the visiting American a share of seventh place but only two shots behind compatriot Luke List.

List snatched 10 birdies in his 63 to end the day one shot clear of the $7m field at seven under.

“That’s all you can do around this golf course with, this wind direction, it seems like you have two drivable holes back-to-back, you have a par 5 that’s downwind and if you hit fairway, you have wedge in your hand,” said Reed.

“There’s a lot of short holes on that side being downwind but the front nine is a lot easier than the back with this wind direction but I just left too many shots out there on the back nine with the putter.

“I feel like I hit some quality iron shots in there. Just didn’t quite make any putts on the back, but at the same time, it’s going to happen. You have a tougher back nine. If I could have made two, maybe three birdies on the back nine it would have been a really good day but all in all, 5-under after the first round, one or a couple back, all depends on what happens, but we’re in good position.”

Reed admitted the tale of his back nine was too many lip outs.

“It seemed like that was the tale of the back nine. On the front, the putts were going in but on the back nine too many lip outs. There’s three lipouts and one ball hanging on edge in the back nine.

“If you get a couple of those two drop it’s a completely different story. All I can do is continue to do what I’m doing, it had the ball — in the short grass, hit it on the green and give myself some birdie looks and try to roll ”