CATRIONA MATTHEW TIED 4TH AT AIG WOMEN'S OPEN

Europe's Solheim Cup captain, Catriona Matthew rolled back the years to sit four shots off the lead after the 1st round at the AIG Women's Open.

With winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour at Royal Troon, Scotland’s first and only major champion, Catriona Matthew, used all her experience to guide her round the iconic Ayrshire links yesterday in a level-par round of 71.

Matthew, who won the championship in 2009 at Royal Lytham & St Annes, carded four birdies and four bogeys to finish T4 behind the overnight leader America's Amy Olson (-4), Germany's Sophia Popov (-1) and America's Marina Alex (-1).

After her round, Matthew, said:

"I don't know when the last time was that I came off the course feeling as happy as I do now, my form hasn’t been great, pretty pathetic, in fact."

“I drove the ball well and putted well. I don’t think I missed a fairway today, which gives you the opportunity to try and hit the greens. I putted well from 10 feet and in, which I think is probably the two key things you have to do well on days like this.”

"I don’t know that I’d actually go out and play on a day like this at home. I’d probably sit and look at them and think what idiots they are to go out there and play. But I think perhaps just the experience of having played in this event so often throughout the years we have had some pretty horrific days, and it’s just a case of going out there with the mentality that you just need to hang in. You’ll get the odd bad break, but you might get a few good ones."

"I used every club in my bag today and that is very, very rare. That the scoring is not going to be super-low will suit me and there’s no reason why I can't go on from here."

Matthew tees it up for round two at 2.11pm this afternoon alongside the American Angela Stanford and Aussie amateur Gabriela Ruffels.