Hend, Aguilar Share Scottish Open Lead

By ESPN

A change of heart could pay massive dividends for Graeme McDowell after the former U.S. Open champion survived a windswept opening day of the Scottish Open.

On a day when winds gusting up to 40mph sent scores soaring, McDowell carded a two-under 70 to lie a shot off the lead held by Australia's Scott Hend and Chile's Felipe Aguilar at Castle Stuart.

McDowell had previously accused the Scottish Open of losing its "identity and prestige" by moving to the "one-dimensional" course outside of Inverness, which only opened in 2009.

But after apologising to the tournament sponsors the Ryder Cup star was welcomed back with open arms and enjoyed the tougher test after spending two days in similar conditions at Open venue Royal Troon.

"Myself and Martin Gilbert [chief executive of sponsors Aberdeen Asset Management] have gotten a little closer over the years," McDowell joked after a round containing four birdies and two bogeys.

"I'm really quite surprised by how good the golf course is. It really does feel like it's designed for this wind direction.

"It's a beautiful piece of land here and has a really nice architectural mix of short [par] fours and tough [par] fives and it's a helluva lot more narrow than I remember it. People are going to say I'm full of s--- having criticised it pretty heavily and now I'm saying it's good. But I'm allowed to change my mind and I like the golf course."

Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington produced the best round of the later starters to join McDowell on two under, along with former U.S. PGA champion YE Yang, Sweden's Alex Noren and the English quartet of Richard Bland, Tyrrell Hatton, Andy Sullivan and Eddie Pepperell. Inverness native Russell Knox was just three off the lead after a 72 but criticised the "terrible" set up of the 18th hole, which only one player in the top 20 managed to birdie.