Perthshire, Scotland (My Sportsbook) - Paul Lawrie, the 1999 British Open Champion, fired a five-under 67 on Thursday to take the first-round lead of the Johnnie Walker Championship at The Gleneagles Hotel.

Defending champion Gregory Havret, Ake Nilsson, Steven O'Hara and Wade Ormsby are knotted in second place at four-under 68 at the PGA Centenary Course, host of the 2014 Ryder Cup.

Heavy rain fell during the afternoon tee times and it was especially difficult as that wave made it to their second nines.

"The course is playing long enough as it is," said Lawrie. "You throw in the mix quite heavy showers and all of sudden you start taking 15 or 20 yards off your drives. The last six or seven holes was a tough as it gets."

Lawrie parred the first hole, but rattled off back-to-back birdies at two and three. The '99 Open champion at Carnoustie parred his next five, but soared up the leaderboard right before the turn.

At the par-five ninth, the Scotsman rolled in a 40-footer for eagle to make the turn in 32. Lawrie parred 10 and 11 and birdied the 12th to get into the lead at minus-five.

Amidst the deluge, Lawrie played safe golf. He parred holes 13 through 17, but finally hit a bad shot at the par-five closing hole. Lawrie badly missed the green with his second, but chipped up to get on the green in regulation.

Lawrie two-putted for his par to take a piece of the first-round lead for the first time on the European Tour since the 2007 Celtic Manor Wales Open, where he tied for 29th.

"I played nicely," said Lawrie. "I was never really in trouble. Struck the ball extremely well. Didn't hole a helluva lot of putts, but I didn't really have to."

Lawrie has five European Tour wins. His last victory came at the 2002 Wales Open and the last -- and only -- time he went on to win from the first-round lead was his maiden title at the 1996 Open Catalonia.

So, Lawrie knows that an opening-day lead is nice, but it's not everything.

"Obviously, it's only the first day. It's only Thursday," said Lawrie. "There's a long way to go. There's a lot of good players playing in this tournament."

Christian Cevaer, Jamie Donaldson, Soren Hansen, Shiv Kapur, Gareth Maybin, Alan McLean, Matthew Millar, Alexander Noren, Graeme Storm, Daniel Vancsik, Anthony Wall and Danny Willett are knotted in sixth place at three-under-par 69.

European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie shot a four-over 76 on Thursday.