Beware the ill-prepared golfer? Catriona Matthew was suffering from jet lag and had never seen the course, but she still shot a two-under-par 70 to finish just three shots off the lead after yesterday's first round of the Evian Masters in France, writes Elspeth Burnside.

The Scot had played in the rain-delayed Rochester International in America on Monday and had only arrived at Evian late on Tuesday evening. ''I did manage to walk a few holes and Graeme (her husband and caddie) went round the course. But it made it interesting today,'' she said.

She gained the perfect confidence boost by holing from 20 feet at the opening hole for the first of four birdies. The only real disappointment was an untidy 6 at the relatively easy par-5 eighteenth, where she fluffed a chip and took three more to hole out.

While Sweden's Carin Koch took a one-shot lead on 67, playing partner Kathryn Marshall's hopes that a return from a disappointing run in America for the first event of the European season would mark an upturn in fortune proved unfounded. The Scot slumped to a 77, and perhaps her only consolation is that there is no halfway cut in this elite 68-player tournament.

Julie Forbes, the only Scot who has not been playing in America, shot a 74, while Dale Reid slumped to an 82.

Laura Davies missed only one green, hit two par-5s in two shots and posted a flawless four-birdie 68 to finish in a pack of four one stroke behind Koch.

An ardent football fan, Davies has tickets for two of England's World Cup qualifying matches - and for the semi-final and final. Questioned by a female French reporter as to who would win, she did not flinch in replying: ''England, of course.''

But her inquisitor was not convinced and earnestly continued: ''No, no, say something serious.''

Leading first-round scores (British and Irish unless otherwise stated):

67 - C Koch (Sweden).

68 - L Davies, J Leary (Australia), S Dallongeville (France), D Barnard.

69 - A-M Knight (Australia), S Waugh (Australia), M Hjorth (Sweden), V Michaud (France).

70 - C Matthew, H Alfredsson (Sweden), H Kobayashi (Japan), A Nicholas, L Neumann (Sweden), S Croce (Italy), T Johnson.

71 - H Dobson

72 - V Van Ryckeghem (Belgium), L Brooky (New Zealand), L Kreutz (France), S Mendiburu (France), K Lunn (Australia), L Maritz (S Africa), S Gustafson (Sweden).

Other scores included:

73 -L Hackney, M-L de Lorenzi (France), A Alcott (USA), L Fairclough. 74 - J Forbes. 77 - K Marshall 82 - D Reid.

q Colin Montgomerie had no hesitation yesterday in naming Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke as big threats to his hopes of winning the US Open in two weeks' time.

All three head to America after this week's English Open at Hanbury Manor, near Hertford, a tournament which offers a #108,330 first prize and each of them the chance to cross the Atlantic as Europe's number one.

The trio have dominated the headlines in recent weeks - Ulsterman Clarke by winning the Benson & Hedges International Open, Montgomerie by grabbing his first Volvo PGA title, and Westwood by shooting a career-low 61 and then a closing 66 to pip Clarke for victory in Hamburg on Monday.

''They both have the potential to win the US Open,'' said Montgomerie. ''If you are confident of achieving something you can and both are very confident at the moment.''

Dane Thomas Bjorn and Swede Patrik Sjoland also have the opportunity to go top of the Order of Merit this weekend, while Per-Ulrik Johansson defends the title he won by two shots from another Swede, Dennis Edlund, last year.