It was the charge of the fading light brigade as battle finally commenced in the Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship.

Following Sunday's abandonment of play that was caused by the kind of relentless downpours you'd find in the Book of Genesis, it was all hands to the pump yesterday as officials and players tried to shoehorn in as many holes as possible in this catch up game before Mother Nature switched the lights out. Everybody got through round one and a good chunk of the field started round two. There were players boogling about here, there and everywhere when the klaxon finally sounded to halt proceedings in the darkness. The PGA almost had to scramble the Killin Search and Rescue Team to bring those back in from the remote reaches of the King's course.

It was a tough old day for the Tartan Tour campaigners and in the dry but rigorous, breezy conditions, it was Greig Hutcheon and Chris Currie who set the early target with five-under 66s. The 67 that Sam Binning conjured, meanwhile, was as poignant as it was purposeful. Three-over through six holes, the 25-year-old's spirited salvage operation included a brace of eagles on the back-nine, the first of which on the 14th was tinged with emotion. "My grandad, who was a member here for 40 years, died last year and we scattered his ashes on the 14th hole," explained Renfrewshire man Binning, who joined the professional ranks 12 months ago and is finding his feet and cutting his teeth on both the domestic circuit and the PGA EuroPro Tour. "The King's was his favourite course and the 14th was his favourite hole. My mum, who caddies for me, got quite emotional. My grandad was the one who got me started in golf and would bring me up here to play the short par-3 course."

It was a day for holding on and limiting the damage on the front nine and building a score coming home. Hutcheon, the national champion in 1999 and 2013 and the dominant force on the Tartan Tour in recent years, was one-over going out but made a telling thrust after the turn and illuminated his 66 with birdies at 16 and 17 and a "meandering" putt of 40-feet on the last for an eagle. "I've not played a lot of competitive golf and it's a bit strange playing your national championship as one of your first events of the year," admitted Hutcheon, after shaking off some of the winter rust. Currie also emerged from his hibernation with a burst and posted a battling five-under score of his own while David Orr, the Scottish champion in 2009, mounted an effective recovery to sit among the early frontrunners after a 67.

The 40-year-old Eastwood professional had been three-over through five holes but kick-started his comeback with an eagle at the sixth, where he cracked a 3-wood into 20-feet and holed the putt. A further haul of six birdies aided his clamber back up the leaderboard. "I was actually hitting the ball well over those first five holes and found myself three-over but I didn't panic," said Orr. "I've played only 36 holes of competitive golf in the last six months. I had little expectations coming into this event but today showed that I've not forgotten how to play."

Gareth Wright, the title holder, opened with a 70 and finished alongside Paul Lawrie, who endured a fairly turbulent day on the greens. The tone was set on the first when he four-putted from 25-feet. "I had also had two three-putts on the front nine," lamented Lawrie.