Blackwood's Bradley Dredge, pictured, was looking to get his season back on track this morning in the Diageo Championship at Gleneagles in Perthshire.

Dredge has been woefully out of sorts in his last three tournaments, missing the cut at the Deutsche Bank Open, The Volvo PGA and most recently the Wales Open.

The disappointment of missing out at the Celtic Manor clearly stung Dredge who, until the last three weeks, had looked fairly solid this year.

Five top 15 finishes in his first seven competitions tells its own story, as do the tour stats that hold Dredge to be the sixth best putter in Europe so far this season.

However, three missed cuts are not an accident and Dredge knows he has a problem with his swing.

After re-modifying his action this season Dredge is now having difficulty, particularly off the tees, and he's looking to change his swing back to the way it was.

Originally this week was to have been a week off for Dredge, but his desperation to rescue his form meant his teeing off today alongside Andrew Coltart and Peter Hedblom in pursuit of the 350,000 euros winners' cheque.

Volvo PGA champion Scott Drummond was sure to attract plenty of interest on day one of the competition. His sensational win ensured great support from the galleries, a luxury players outside the world's top 400 rarely enjoy.

The big name in the field is Colin Montgomerie. He has expressed concern that his split from his wife will take him six months to come back from, but the evidence is to the contrary.

Monty did well at the Wales Open and for a time looked a threat to Simon Khan and Paul Casey.

However, while his long game was extremely accurate, his putting lacked conviction and his demeanour was timid, not in keeping with a man who won seven successive Order of Merits.