Briton Warren finds form to lead at Gleneagles

GLENEAGLES, Scotland, Aug 30 (Reuters) Briton Marc Warren, last year's European rookie of the year, put indifferent form behind him to take a one-shot lead in the Johnnie Walker Championship today.

The 26-year-old Scot fired an eight-under 65 to head Challenge Tour player Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium.

It is a welcome return to form for Warren, who has missed the cut 14 times in 21 starts this season, including failing to qualify for final rounds in Sweden two weeks ago and last week in the Netherlands.

While a head-cold may have affected him recently, and a neck injury earlier in the season, Warren said he had not followed up on a promising season.

''Last year I won and played in the World Cup and after finishing fifth in the Champions tournament I wanted to kick on from that, but the way I've been playing that has just not happened,'' Warren told a news conference.

Colsaerts finished tied second in this event two years ago but the player who began his touring career at only 18 has lost his way since.

An eagle-two with an eight-foot putt, in which he nearly holed in one at the par-four eighth, his 17th, helped give the Belgian hope he can challenge for the title again.

''I love this place,'' Colsaerts said. ''It's make or break like it was two years ago, when I was playing to keep my card.

Maybe it will be another fairytale for me.'' Last week's Dutch Open runner-up Joost Luiten continued his good form by sharing third place, three strokes off the lead, with Britons' Phillip Price, Zane Scotland and Phillip Archer.

Frenchman Thomas Levet is a further shot back after beginning his round with a hole in one, acing the 10th on the Centenary course.

Levet is battling back from vertigo that blighted his career at the end of last year and the beginning of this season.

''I'm gradually getting back,'' Levet told Reuters. ''It has been a worrying time.

''I was losing my balance about 100 times a day and there was no chance of me hitting golf balls. I was told it could take anything between six months to two years for me to get better.

''It took seven months, with similar treatment to that given to Parkinson's Disease sufferers, designed to calm down my nervous system.'' REUTERS BJR RAI2201