Blame it on all those big fancy gas guzzlers hogging the space at Gleneagles. Or at least the old bangers belonging to the golf writers.

“It took me 40 minutes to get parked and because of that I didn’t have time to hit any balls before I went out,” said Euan McIntosh of a fairly fraught start to his day ahead of round one of the Carrick Neill Scottish Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship over the King’s Course.

A few hours later, McIntosh trotted back to his car with a spring in his step after posting a two-under 68 to finish among the early pacesetters. The sprightly 49-year-old may have struggled to locate a handy spot to dump his motor but he’s not had much bother finding his form in recent weeks.

After becoming the oldest winner of the Scottish matchplay title in over 30 years at the start of the month, the invigorated McIntosh has since added the Leven Gold Medal and the North East Open to his collection during a profitable spell.

Eye brows were raised when the Glasgow-born veteran was left out of the Scotland team for the Eisenhower Trophy but the domestic scene’s form horse is keeping his own eyes on more prizes as he targets a fourth successive victory on the circuit.

“I’m going to be trying as hard as I can but there are a lot of good young players this week and I’ll need to be playing at my best,” he said after recovering from a shaky start which followed his parking palaver.

“It was a bit hectic and the first five holes were a bit funky. I settled down after that. I’ll probably hit balls before my second round and shoot millions. You never know with golf.”

It was a good day for the Euans in Gleneagles as McIntosh’s fellow Scot, Euan Walker, soared into a share of the lead with a three-under 67.

The Barassie man, who is part of Scotland’s three-man team for next week’s Eisenhower Trophy, turned 23 yesterday and he marked the occasion with a sturdy round which was polished with a brace of birdies at 17 and 18.

Despite his late flourish, it was a bout of the heebie-jeebies on the very first green which had a sizeable impact on Walker’s round.

“I had knocked an approach just above the hole but my putt raced about 10 or 12 feet by as the green was so quick,” said Walker, who was sharing top spot with Yorkshire champion, Sam Rook. “I got a bit of a fright from that but holing the return to save par was a big moment so early on.”

In terms of a salvage operation, East Lothian’s Connor Wilson conjured the kind of repair job that would have had a panel beater nodding his head in approval. Careering over his first five holes in four-over-par could have easily led to something resembling a car crash of a round.

The wheels were certainly shoogling early on but Wilson got himself back on the straight and narrow and the reigning Scottish Boys’ champion covered his last seven holes in five-under to join McIntosh on the two-under mark.

"It was pretty solid after that opening and a putt of 35-feet up the hill on the 17th was the best of the day," said the 17-year-old who is part of the Stephen Gallacher Foundation.

Over the cherished old King's Course, Englishman Jordan Sundborg produced a finish fit for that particular brand of royalty as he winkled out two birdies and an eagle on his last three holes to hoist himself on to a two-under score and into a tie for third.

Balmore's James Wilson, fresh from winning the Welsh Open Strokeplay title the other weekend, made a promising start in the Scottish event and joined a vast posse who opened with one-under 69s.