Lee Westwood brilliantly turned back the clock with two eagles and five birdies in a nine-under par 62 to head the field by a nine-under par on day one of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club to the east of Edinburgh.

The effort is the now 47-year old Westwood’s lowest round in 17-years since a similar 62 at Kingsbarns Links on route to victory in the 2013 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and also in Scotland.

Westwood, who is no stranger to the course having played it often while living in Edinburgh following his marriage break-up, is a former winner of the event having captured the 1998 Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

And also more than 22-years later he has son Sam on the bag producing two stunning eagle ‘3’s – sending a 3-wood from 293-yards out to just three feet at the third hole and then holing a 25-foot gem for a second eagle and this at the par-5 seventh hole.

“I didn’t put myself under too much pressure all day. I played solidly. We got the good end of the draw, there’s no doubt about that, in the afternoon lot,”  said Westwood smiling.

“But you’ve got to make the most of it when it does happen to you. That’s links golf, and you know you’re going to be on the wrong side of it often enough, so when you’re on the right side of it, you’ve got to try to make the most of it.

“And I played solidly. Drove the ball well. Iron shots were good. In a good groove since U.S. Open. U.S. Open, had to be disciplined. I took that discipline from there to here today. Aimed away from flags when I needed to. Left myself a lot of nice looks uphill for birdie today. And distance control was good, which, you know, could have been one of the few things to trip people up today. It wasn’t quite going as far as normal.

“And the greens are nice. And you feel like if you put a good roll on it, it holds its line. So, yeah, obviously very pleased with the round.”

Westwood eagled both the third and seventh holes and capped his five birdie haul with three in succession from the 12th hole.

A then 30-year old Westwood capped his round of 62 at Kingsbarns Links by holing his second shot at his last hole, or the ninth on the card, for an albatross ‘2’ and with Kingsbarns celebrating the effort with a plaque from the spot where Westwood hit the shot.

And the plaque still remains in place to this day encouraging everyone who loves teeing-up at Kingsbarns Links the chance to match Westwood’s remarkable golfing feat.