His one-over-par 72 was the best of the opening day when a north-west crosswind played havoc with the field of 144.

Smyth, in fact, would have been the overnight leader but for a double-bogey six at the 18th, which dropped him back into a share of second place, one off the pace.

The Irishman, who has won twice on the US Champions Tour already this season and is sixth on the American senior circuit’s money list, hit the ground running in the second round.

He birdied the first and eagled the par-five second to climb to the top of the leaderboard at one under par.

Smyth then birdied the fourth and the sixth and looked to be in the mood to go well clear of the field.

But the Balgownie links bit back when the 52-year-old from Drogheda dropped shots at the seventh and ninth to be out in two-under-par 34 and level par for the tournament.

Playing partner Stadler – “The Walrus” – dropped a shot at the first but birdied both the long second and the short third and when he birdied the long sixth he was level par overall.

Former Ryder Cup man Howard Clark retired after four holes in which his figures were 5-6-4-6 against the par 4-5-3-4.

The wind had dropped considerably but there was still a bit of a breeze but heavy overnight rain had dampened down the fiery fairways.

Of the early finishers, South African Bertus Smith improved by 12 shots on his first round with a 72 for 156.

Scotland’s Martin Gray, despite a double bogey at the 16th and a bogey at the 18th finished with a 73, which was four shots better than he had achieved in the wild wind of Thursday.

The leading 70 players and ties at the end of the day will go forward to the weekend’s final 36 holes.