GULLANE, Scotland, July 14 (UPI) -- Andrew Coltart shot a 61 Sunday to establish one of three course records set as 384 players began the final session of British Open qualifying chasing 24 places.
Four courses are being used to determine the last members of the field for the tournament that begins Thursday at Muirfield. The first round of the 36-hole final qualifying produced a host of low scores in perfect conditions.
Coltart's 61 came at Luffness New while Fredrik Andersson of Sweden shot a 9-under 62 to set a course record at Guillane No. 1.
Also at 8-under par were the joint leaders at North Berwick -- Irish amateur Colm Moriaty and South African Trevor Immelman. Scoring was not so low at Dunbar, but former Ryder Cup captain Mark James, Patrick Sjoland of Sweden and Sam Walker shared the lead at 65.
While those in final qualifying were fighting for their place in the tournament, Tiger Woods played his first round at Muirfield.
"It's a heck of a golf course," he said. "The rough's up and its pretty tight. It's going to be a great challenge."
Woods will be trying to win his third major championship of the year and keep alive his bid for the Grand Slam.
Andersson made his score with four birdies and an eagle on the inward half, hitting a 4-iron 230 yards to four feet at Gullane's 536-yard 15th. Coltart, despite dropping a shot at the second hole at Luffness, had six birdies in an outward 30 and picked up three more on the way home.
Immelman had a second place finish earlier this season in the French Open. There were no dropped shots during his round at North Berwick and at the 273-yard final hole he reached the edge of the green with a 2-iron from the tee for the last of his eight birdies.
The second 18 will be played at the four courses on Monday.
