Scottish pair shine in Vegas

Martin Laird: Seven birdies in a blemish-free opening round

Martin Laird and Russell Knox both made flying starts to the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.

Laird earned a share of the clubhouse lead with Stewart Cink after opening with a confident seven-under 64, while fellow Scot Knox prompted a 59 alert before settling for a 65.

Knox started at the 10th and blitzed the back nine at TPC Summerlin for six birdies, including four in a row from the 15th, and he moved to seven under with another birdie at the second.

But the 29-year-old could not maintain his sparkling run and bogeyed the fifth and sixth, although he closed with his eighth birdie of the round to claim outright second.

Laird, the 2009 champion, also raced out of the blocks with three birdies in the first four holes, and he picked up two further shots at the eighth and ninth to turn in 30.

After a run of five pars, Laird got another birdie putt to drop at the 15th before closing with a huge 40-foot putt for another at 18 to join veteran Cink at the top of the leaderboard.

"It was nice to see that one go in," Laird said of his putt at the last. "I missed a bunch of opportunities on the back nine, putted great on the front and hit it actually better on the back than I did the front nine, just kept missing eight-to-10-footers."

Cink also kept a bogey off his card, starting with seven straight pars before a birdie at eight prompted an impressive spell of seven birdies in 11 holes to set a testing target in the clubhouse.

"A 64 is good for anybody, I think, but on the first day of the year, you don't really ever know what's going to come out, the first day of the season," said Cink, who has not won since pipping Tom Watson to the Open title at Turnberry.

"I just kind of was patient and waited for a good stretch, and a good stretch happened."

Jarrod Lyle, making his second start since returning to the PGA Tour following two battles with leukemia, is just two off the lead after mixing seven birdies with two bogeys in his 66.

The Australian shares fourth place with Bo Van Pelt, Hideki Matsuyama, Brian Stuard, Andrew Svoboda and Sam Saunders - the grandson of the legendary Arnold Palmer.

Former world No 1 and three-time major champion Vijay Singh is a further stroke adrift, while reigning FedExCup champion Billy Horschel laboured to an erratic level-par 71.