You don't need to be a super-sleuth to uncover the fact that golf has a problem with slow play.

It can be murder to watch and it remains a mystery that more players aren't punished. As the first competitor to be penalised a shot as part of the Royal & Ancient's new, tough stance towards pace of play, during last year's Amateur Championship at Royal Troon, Nathan Kimsey became something of a household name.

"I've been exhibit A," said the Englishman, as he reflected on his brush with golfing infamy. Yesterday, the 20-year-old from Lincolnshire wasted no time in making a name for himself for the right reasons at the Carrick Neill Scottish Open Strokeplay Championship as he surged to the front with a three-under-par 66 over the robust Southerness links.

"My name has been banded about quite a bit," added Kimsey, currently 22nd in the world amateur rankings. "It was going away and then I got reminded of it again when Tianlang Guan was penalised for slow play at the Masters. Every major amateur event we go to, we get timing sheets but I think it's now filtering down to smaller events too. They are trying to say 'we are watching you'."

The winner of the internationally-acclaimed Terra Cotta Invitational in Florida back in April, Kimsey certainly got motoring on the closing stretch of his opening round yesterday and a six-iron to 20ft on the 14th, which he holed for a birdie, kick-started a late burst which included two more gains at the 17th and 18th.

Like the weather, a giddy combination of bright sunshine, a strengthening wind, a varying temperature and a brief shower of rain, the scoring on the Solway Firth was mixed. While Kimsey's 66, which gave him a two-shot lead, set the standard, a 91 propped up the standings.

Southerness, always a rigorous examination, was providing another tough test but there were plenty who relished the challenge. Richard O'Donovan, fourth at last month's Irish Open, came home in 31 for a 68 to sit alongside the English Walker Cup hopeful Garrick Porteous.

Banchory's Chris Robb birdied the first and the 18th in a 69 to lurk among the early frontrunners. The 22-year-old, who is in his final year of a scholarship at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, was a flatmate of the newly-crowned US amateur champion Steven Fox.

"After Steven won, Arnold Palmer phoned him and said he'd like to take him for lunch," said Robb, who might have to settle for a more modest pie and a pint in the clubhouse here on tomorrow night if he wins.

John Mathers, the 48-year-old Haggs Castle stalwart, upstaged a host of Scotland internationalists when he posted a 70. He was joined on that mark by the former Scottish under-16 champion Ben Kinsley, who finished with a flourish by eagling the par-five 18th.

Glenbervie's Walker Cup contender Graeme Robertson, beaten in a play-off at the Irish Open Strokeplay, began with a 72 while Bradley Neil, the new Scottish Boys' champion, made a three on the last in a 73.