Sepp Straka's late chip-in secures share of Scottish Open lead

The group - on six under - is one shot ahead of a chasing pack that includes Marcel Siem.

There was slight wind off the East Lothian coastal course on Thursday, but the high quality field made light work to create a logjammed leaderboard at the Renaissance Club in the second Rolex Series event of the season.

Colombian Echavarria was the first player in the clubhouse at six under par before American Knapp and Austria's Straka joined him with their respective 64s.

Frenchman Perez was the only afternoon starter to reach that mark, with 28 players sitting within three shots of the leading quartet after 18 holes.

"It's Thursday. You can enjoy seeing yourself up on the leaderboard," Echavarria said. "Overall, it was fun. Our group played very well.

"It's good when your playing partner is playing good so you can see how there's a lot of birdies out there."

World Number 51 Echavarria dropped his only shot of the day at the second, but soon returned to level par with a birdie from four feet at the next.

He was in the red numbers with a tap-in birdie at the fourth before a 25-foot effort at the seventh saw him climb to two under.

Echavarria started his back nine by picking up a shot from eight feet before adding further birdies at the 14th and 15th.

Despite finding rough with his second shot, he completed a hat-trick of gains at 16th to set the six under clubhouse target.

Knapp was next to join Echavarria at the summit, and the only player of the leading four to be flawless on day one.

The American made a rapid start in North Berwick, holing birdies from five feet at the first and third before a brilliant 45-foot effort at the fourth saw him move to three under.

His next gain did not come until the tenth and when he drained back to back birdies from the 14th, he was joint leader.

"Definitely can't complain," Knapp said. "I think it tests a little bit of everything and obviously you can hit what you think is a decent shot and it can bounce somewhere and go somewhere funky. So you have to be able to roll with the punches."

European Ryder Cup winner Straka made his bid for a maiden Rolex Series title by birdieing his first two holes at the tenth and 11th.

The Austrian sat two off the lead with another brace from the 15th and it soon got better for the World Number Ten.

He improved his score with gains at the third and fourth, and when he rolled from 13 feet to complete the hat-trick of birdies at the fifth, he was the outright leader at seven under.

However, Straka bogeyed his next two holes to slip one back, only to chip in at the eighth - his penultimate hole - to card his 64.

Straka said: "It's a little bit unpredictable and it puts you in spots where you may be a little bit uncomfortable, and you hit shots that you normally wouldn't hit. I think that's what makes it the most fun."

Perez has not been in the winner's enclosure since winning the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championships in 2023, but home comforts seemed to help the Dundee-based golfer.

An opening birdie got him in the red numbers and he climbed up the leaderboard thanks to another brace of gains from the fourth.

A bogey at the ninth saw his momentum stall until the 14th hole, where his first round finished in a blaze of birdies.

The 32-year-old picked up shots at the 14th, 15th and 16th before holing from 25 feet at the last to get to six under.

"I've always kind of enjoyed keeping the ball down and long putts from off the green," Perez said. "I think it may play in my hand a little bit better with what I'm good at. So, yeah, enjoyed a very good first day, but a lot of golf left."

Calum Hill led the Scottish challenge, sitting one adrift of the leaders alongside German pair Marcel Siem and Matti Schmid and Englishman Marco Penge.

Norway's Viktor Hovland carded his first flawless round at this event to sit with South Korean Tom Kim, New Zealand's Ryan Fox and American duo Wyndham Clark and Keith Mithell in a share for ninth at four under.