Gleneagles - AFP
Spain's Ignacio Garrido opened up a one-shot lead at the midway point of the Johnnie Walker Championship on Friday after a late surge up the leaderboard. Garrido, one of the last to tee off, carded five birdies against two bogeys for a three under par 69 and eight under for the tournament following an opening 67. Italy's Lorenzo Gagli, Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, Ireland's Peter Lawrie and Englishmen Kenneth Ferrie and Mark Foster formed a five-strong chasing pack one shot adrift of Garrido. "It’s always a great feeling," Garrido said. "That’s what we work for. There’s still a lot to be done but tomorrow I would rather be in this position than a few shots further back. "It was a difficult start. It’s not an easy course; it doesn’t give you that many birdies straightaway. We got probably the worst part of the day when we started. We had an hour of rain in probably the toughest holes." Gagli finished his first round of 69 in the morning after being one of 51 players unable to complete their round on Thursday due to bad light. He returned to shoot a four under par 68. Bjorn, Lawrie and Ferrie all went round in three under on Friday while Foster added a 71 to his first day 66. Spain's Pablo Larrazabal and England’s James Morrison are one shot further adrift after carding 68 and 69 respectively.