New putter is key for in-form Storm

The Rockliffe Park representative from Hartlepool lies one shot behind Darren Clarke at the top of the Scottish Open leaderboard at Loch Lomond after an encouraging opening day.

Storm shot a 66, and led the field for most of the day before Clarke pipped him with a 65.

A dropped shot on the par four 12th hole was his only blemish, but Storm was happy to finally get his full game together.

“It was blustery and difficult.

I’m really happy with a 66 anytime, but today I’ve got my name at the top of the leaderboard which is always nice.

“I’ve come here with the intentions of doing as well as I can but trying to nick the one spot available for next week (The Open) “I’ve been playing great of late, but not being able to hold the putts really.

“But I’ve found a new putter in the ghosts of Taylor Made and it’s been fantastic since I picked it up.

“Obviously I wish I’d put it in earlier and finished a bit higher in the French Open last week, I quite like it round there anyway.

“Hopefully I can continue the form, I’ve been playing great for a while, but its about putting four rounds together.

“I just tried a few putters and they have made a couple of new one, a bit more conventional, I’ve always used a putter that looks a bit like the old Ping Eye style.

“They made this one quite randomly, I saw this one picked it up and gave it a go.’’ Only a few weeks after talking about giving up golf for a while because things were going so badly Clarke bounced back into the spotlight.

McDowell, returning to Tour life three weeks after his US Open triumph, trails by six after what he described as a ‘‘mixed bag’’ and Masters champion Phil Mickelson is on the same level par mark as he began his bid for the top two finish which would take him to world number one for the first time.

Clarke did not drop a shot all day, collecting four birdies in six holes from the third, making further birdies at the 13th and 14th and then saving par from a greenside bunker on the last during a torrential downpour.

‘‘It was pretty tough. The wind was swirling it got very wet for the last couple of holes.’’ The round did not come totally out of blue. He was a runner- up in South Africa in January, was sixth in Portugal last month and on Tuesday won the star-studded JP Mc- Manus featuring Tiger Woods at Adare Manor in west Ireland.

As for his recent ‘‘I feel like quitting’’ comments Clarke said: ‘‘Yeah, the red stood in the Harbour Bar in Portrush was looking very good for a long time.

‘‘But I was just frustrated.

Sometimes I make the game as difficult as I possibly can for myself.’’ Mickelson was one under after 13, but double-bogeyed the next – and it could have been far worse. He was seconds away from having to go back to the tee after a search for his second shot.

Korea’s YE Yang, the third current major champion in the tournament, returned a 72, but 18-year-old Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa shot 67 and is in a group tied for fifth which also includes 1995 Open champion John Daly.

He put himself into contention for a £500,000 victory - and how he needs it.

The former Open champion, who next week returns to the scene of his 1995 triumph at St Andrews, currently faces a demand for nearly £700,000 in unpaid taxes at home.

Now ranked 499th in the world, he described his ballstriking over the first eight holes as his best ever as he began with a four under 67.

Daly, two behind Clarke, has not had a top 20 finish since he was runner-up at the Italian Open 14 months ago and is no longer a full US Tour card-holder.

‘‘It’s a struggle, but I’m not broke,’’ said the American, who reckons that losing sponsorship at the end of 2007 cost him more than £4million.

‘‘But I’m only 44 and I still feel there’s a lot of golf left. I still feel I have the talent and can still win.’’ Daly has shown his determination to get his life as well as his golf back into shape by gastric band surgery last year.

It has brought his weight down from 22 stones to under 14.