Golf:Paul Lawrie fired a seven-under-par 64 to share the lead after the first round of the Castello Masters in Spain, but only three of the seven-strong Irish contingent - Gareth Maybin, Shane Lowry and Michael Hoey - were under par.
Lawrie, the 41-year-old former Open champion in search of his first win since 2002, carded seven birdies in nine holes, including four-in-a-row from the seventh to the 10th, in a bogey-free round to head the field alongside Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez. The South American did not drop a shot either, two runs of three straight birdies from the third and then from the 13th propelling him up the leaderboard.
Hoey is best of the Irish after a 67 left him four-under-par, one ahead of Maybin and two in front of Lowry, who bogeyed his last (ninth). Hoey could have been one better off, too, but after he started at the tenth, a bogey five at the seventh proved costly.
Peter Lawrie (72), Paul McGinley (74), Simon Thornton (75) and Damien McGrane (76) all have work to do to avoid the cut.
Paul Lawrie put his impressive opening round down to his putting.
"I putted lovely. I played solidly, I didn't play poorly, but I rolled the ball extremely well," Lawrie said on www.europeantour.com. "The greens this week are some of the best we've seen all year and when the greens are fast and they roll well I tend to hole puts so I did that today.
"When the greens are fast I normally hole my share so I'm hoping that continues."
The leading pair were one shot ahead of England's David Horsey, who was just one under after the front nine, but picked up five more birdies in his next seven holes to put himself firmly in contention.
Four players, including English pair Simon Khan and Richard Finch and Scotland's Gary Orr, were in a tie for fourth on five under. Khan finished with a flourish, four of his six birdies coming in the final five holes after a bogey at the ninth had left him on level par halfway through his round.
Orr also had a more impressive back nine, picking up four shots in three holes with a run of birdie-eagle-birdie at the 12th, 13th and 14th. Finch had four birdies, a bogey and an eagle, also at the par-five 13th.
France's Jean-Baptiste Gonnet was the third player to card a 66, shooting five birdies in a bogey-free round.
Six players followed on four under, including Richard Bland of England, Scot David Drysdale and Hoey. Bland and Drysdale both had eventful rounds featuring seven birdies and three bogeys, while Huey carded six birdies and two bogeys.
Collated first-round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
64Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Paul Lawrie
65David Horsey
66Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Gary Orr, Richard Finch, Simon Khan
67Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Richard Bland, David Drysdale, Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Michael Hoey
68Christian Nilsson (Swe), Gareth Maybin, Joost Luiten (Ned), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Carl Suneson (Spa), Gary Boyd, Alexander Noren (Swe), Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa)
69Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Anders Hansen (Den), Oliver Wilson, Todd Hamilton (USA), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Shane Lowry, Alastair Forsyth, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Christian Cevaer (Fra), Steve Webster, Paul Waring, Phillip Price, Javi Colomo (Spa), Julien Quesne (Fra), James Morrison, Marco Ruiz (Par), Richard Green (Aus), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)
70Soren Kjeldsen (Den), John Parry, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Andrew Coltart, Rafael Echenique (Arg), Mark Brown (Nzl), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Gary Lockerbie, Jamie Donaldson, Michael Jonzon (Swe), Ariel Canete (Arg), Ignacio Garrido (Spa)
71Martin Wiegele (Aut), Richie Ramsay, Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Peter Whiteford, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Richard McEvoy, Marcel Siem (Ger), Graeme Storm, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Sam Hutsby, Stephen Dodd, Marc Warren, Tano Goya (Arg), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa)
72James Kingston (Rsa), Soren Hansen (Den), Robert Coles, Steven O'Hara, Peter Lawrie, Jamie Elson, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Markus Brier (Aut), Santiago Luna (Spa), Sam Little, Bradley Dredge, Hennie Otto (Rsa), David Howell, George Coetzee (Rsa), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Stephen Gallacher, Mark Foster
73Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Anthony Wall, Andrew Butterfield, Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Scott Strange (Aus), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Rhys Davies, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Ross McGowan
74Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Moises Cobo (Spa), Raul Quiros (Spa), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Paul McGinley, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)
75Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Jorge Campillo (Spa), David Dixon, Simon Thornton
76Anthony Kang (USA), Damien McGrane, Michael Campbell (Nzl), Emanuele Canonica (Ita)
78Shiv Kapur (Ind)
80Pablo Martin (Spa)