Matt Blackey climbed as high as sixth place before falling back into the pack as high winds turned Gleneagles into a minefield on the first day of the Diageo Championship.

The Southampton-based golfer, looking for a confidence boost after slipping from first to 32nd place in his last week's British Masters, was two over after bogies at the third and fourth.

But a brace of birdies at the tenth and 12th put Blackey back to level par and rocketed him on to the leaderboard.

Even a couple of late dropped shots weren't disastrous. A two over par 74 was good enough for a top 30 place, just four off the lead held by Scotland's Alistair Forsyth and Brad Kennedy from Australia.

The Diageo is a new name for the Scottish PGA Championship in which another Southampton golfer Richard Bland first made a name for himself four years ago.

But not yesterday. The Stoneham clubman opened up with a trio of pars but bogies at the 13th, 16th and 17th followed by an eight at the par five 18th left him six over after just nine holes. It got worse when he took a six at the long second then bogeyed four and five to go nine over.

lSouthampton's Simon Cookson will be defending the title in the English Blind Golfers' Strokeplay Championship at Wharton Park in Worcestershire this weekend.

He faces tough opposition from order of merit leader Derrick Sheridan and Dave Morris, the current world champion.

Cookson and brother Jay, who share the prestigious Hampshire Disabled Sportsman of the Year Award, are currently second and seventh respectively.

Hampshire meet Herfordshire at Royal Winchester today in the match which should decide who goes through to the regional final of the women's Inter-County Championship.