Glasgow golfer Marc Warren hit the target at Archerfield Links as he eased into the second round of the Aberdeen Asset Management Paul Lawrie Matchplay Championship.

Warren, who reached the semi-finals of the European Tour shoot-out last season, edged out Spain’s Jorge Campillo by a 3&2 margin and was set to play Sweden’s Magnus Carlsson in the next round today.

Warren, who has a fine pedigree in the matchplay format and was a star of the GB&I team that won the 2001 Walker Cup on US soil, has been left frustrated by the lack of birdies he has been making on the main circuit over the summer.

But the three-time Tour champ found his form in East Lothian yesterday and produced a seven birdie blitz against Campillo to take charge of the encounter and power into the last 32.

Warren said: “It's the most birdies I've made for a long time. That's been the biggest complaint of my game, I would say. In the French Open, the Scottish Open and the Open too, I drove the ball really, really well but my iron play let me down and I just didn’t take advantage.

“When you’re driving it really well, you should be setting up some birdie chances and I wasn't doing that at all. I felt really frustrated after that little stretch of events. I was making cuts but not finishing tournaments off and kind of going backwards at the weekend.”

All square with Campillo after five holes, Warren upped the ante and produced a telling thrust with birdies at six, nine and 10 which moved him into a commanding three-hole advantage.

Warren, who lost to eventual champion Kiradech Aphibarnrat in the last four a year ago, added: “It was a decent quality of game and I’m delighted to get through. This format is something a little bit different for us and there’s a little bit of pressure right from the first round. It’s complete knockout, so it's always nice to get through the first one.”

Warren’s fellow Glaswegian, Scott Jamieson, made an early exit however as he went down 5&4 to Sweden’s new Scottish Open champion Alex Noren.

Paul Lawrie, the tournament host, eased to a 4&2 victory over Danish youngster Lucas Bjerregaard while top seed Chris Wood was a 4&3 winner against Aussie, Brett Rumford.

Former Ryder Cup player Stephen Gallacher, making his first Tour appearance for two months following injury, crashed to a 7&6 defeat to Italian teen Renato Paratore.