Martin Dempster reports from the Renaissance Club.
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00:00Hello, it's Martin Dempster, the Scotsman Golf Correspondent here, coming to you from
00:05the Renaissance Club at the conclusion of play in the first round of the Genesis Scottish
00:13Open. We've got another world-class field here in East Lothian this week. On top of
00:20the leaderboard after the opening round is former world number one, Justin Thomas, the
00:27two-time PGA champion. He was bogey-free as he shot an 8 under par 62. He had a 59 in
00:36his sights with five holes to play. He'd shot that magical number once before, but he admitted
00:42that when he immediately thought about that, the birdies dried up and he closed with five
00:47pars. He leads by one shot from Korean Soon Jae Im, with a group a further shot behind,
00:56including Ludvig Eberg, the young Swede who's taken the golf world by storm over the past
01:0312 months. Defending champion Rory McIlroy, he opened with a 5 under par 65 in what was
01:11his first outing since suffering a heartbreak in last month's US Open at Pinehurst. Needless
01:17to say, he was happy with that and if he keeps that up, he's certainly going to be a factor
01:22again heading into the weekend. The top Scots, having both shot 3 under par 67s, are Bob McIntyre,
01:31last year's runner-up, and his Bounce Sports stablemate, a local man, Grant Forrest. A couple
01:39of players, Richie Ramsey and Connor Syme, who's celebrating his birthday today and is getting
01:46married soon. They both shot 2 under 68s and they're among the players who are chasing
01:52three spots in next week's 152nd Open at Royal Troon. Terrific day, big crowds and we're
02:02set up for a magnificent three days. To keep up to date with the Genesis Scots Open and
02:07all golf matters, log on to Scotsman.com or buy the Scotsman.