The amateur trio who partnered Peter Whiteford in the pre-tournament Pro-Am ahead of this week’s SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge may be surprised to read that he nipped round Macdonald Spey Valley in a sprightly five-under 66 yesterday to lurk two shots off the lead. “They’ll not believe it because the way I played in the Pro-Am was embarrassing,” confessed the Fifer after a purposeful, bogey-free start to his campaign. It’s a funny old game, of course. One day, you’re wildly swiping away with the kind of wayward thrashes that wouldn’t look out of place on a medieval battlefield, the next it’s as smooth and considered as a Torvill and Dean routine. After a couple of years of toil, which has led to him dropping off the main European Tour, Whiteford is still fighting for form and consistency, particularly with the driver. “I’ve gone back to one that’s a 12-year-old thing from a museum bit it’s not the club that’s the problem, it’s the swing,” added the 35-year-old, who hit only three drivers all day and preferred to blast away from the tee with a 2-iron. “When you’re not driving it well, the confidence takes a battering. The driver is my downfall just now, but if I can get it in play then I can compete.”

On a cluttered leaderboard, which is topped by Tapio Pulkkanen of Finland, who birdied his closing two holes in a rousing 64 late in the day, Whiteford is well in the mix and sits alongside a posse of players on five-under which includes Sweden’s Anton Karlsson. His elevation into the upper reaches was pretty spectacular as he holed his 6-iron tee-shot at the 196-yard 10th – his final hole – to be the ace in this particular pack. Scotsman Craig Sutherland also had a one on his card. Unfortunately he scribbled another right next to it as he took an eye-watering 11 on the eighth on his way to a chastening 81.

Back at the sharp end of affairs, frontrunner Pulkkanen, who arrived in Aviemore only on Wednesday after coming off the reserve list and has just recovered from a recent bout of chickenpox, has a six-strong posse sitting just a stroke behind him on 65s. That number includes last year’s runner-up Robert Coles and Sweden’s Sebastian Soderberg, who played in last week’s US Open where he enjoyed a practice round with eventual champion Dustin Johnson.

On the Tartan Tour, meanwhile, Greig Hutcheon leads by three shots heading into the final round of the Northern Open at Royal Dornoch.

The 2010 champion posted a five-under 65 for a nine-under 201 and a healthy advantage over Greg McBain and defending champion, Chris Kelly.