Golf-Nearly man Fernandez-Castano finds paradise at Loch Lomond

By Tony Jimenez

LOCH LOMOND, Scotland, July 9 (Reuters) - Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, this season's European Tour nearly man, was in paradise in more senses than one during the Scottish Open first round on Thursday.

The 2005 rookie of the year made a dream start to the British Open warmup event with a six-under-par 65 but the Spaniard was delighted simply to be teeing it up on the picturesque banks of Loch Lomond.

"I cannot think of any better place to play golf in the world when the weather is like this," Fernandez-Castano told reporters on a glorious, sunny day. "It's paradise, heaven must be like this.

"I am very happy with my round. It's a great way to start a great tournament."

Not for the first time this season the 28-year-old was in second place, one stroke behind early leader Richard Green of Australia.

Fernandez-Castano experienced a run of three successive runner-up finishes in April and he is using his unlucky sequence in Portugal, China and South Korea as a spur.

"I can't think of anyone finishing second for three weeks in a row," he said. "It's not easy to accept defeat but because it happened in April, you have all season to go one better."

Fernandez-Castano, who has won four times on the European Tour, is in the middle of five consecutive weeks on the circuit that will come to an end with next week's British Open at Turnberry.