Yesterday may have been the new Swiss Open champion's 20th birthday but for once it was her sibling who stole the show as he overcame difficult conditions to finish at the head of the 25-strong home contingent who have the additional prize of The Douglas Lowe Memorial Trophy to contest this week.

A world champion in his own right having been part of Scotland's three-man amateur team which won the Eisenhower Trophy in 2008, the Comrie golfer's five-under-par round of 66 left him two off the pace set by Englishmen Daniel Walker and Sam Walker.

That was all the more impressive considering he has spent most of the last two years sidelined by a combination of injuries which, at the start of this year, he was beginning to fear could threaten his career.

While he has, then, been able to take some consolation from Carly's emergence as a leading figure in the game with two wins on the Ladies Tour in the past six weeks, he could take considerable pride from his own performance yesterday.

"Carly has absolutely been giving me some inspiration. She has been doing fantastically and it's always going to spur me on to practice harder and do better, but I have to remember that I'm just back after 18 months or so out of golf completely, so it's still early days," he said.

"The last thing I'm trying to do is put too much pressure on myself, but I did a better job today."

Having suffered some discomfort since his amateur days, Booth was the victim of a misdiagnosis of a shoulder injury when he first saw a brace of specialists in 2010 and they failed to identify a labral tear and simply gave him a painkilling injection.

It was almost a year after that before he went for further medical advice when, after five months rest, the pain was "worse than it ever was."

"When I stopped in January 2011, I couldn't even hold a golf club in a set-up position, it was so bad at that point," said Booth. "I needed another opinion, so went to see a guy down in Manchester who is one of the best in Europe, Lennard Funk, he does all the Manchester City and Manchester United players."

That, ultimately, led to the required surgery but even after that there was a further setback which Booth thinks was related when, having made some adjustments to his grip after undergoing rehab, he then suffered nerve damage in a hand at the start of this year.

"It was tough because you start wondering if you'll ever get back playing, but I'm just grateful that I am and long may it continue," he said.