Mark McNulty heads the Irish challenge at the British Senior Open after a one-under par opening round of 70 left him two shots off the lead at Royal Troon.

McNulty carded four birdies in his round but a triple-bogey seven at the 11th denied the Zimbabwean-born player a chance of the outright lead.

Instead, he trails joint leaders Bruce Vaughan and Eduardo Romero (three-under) and had to settle for a share of sixth place alongside the likes of Tom Watson.

Eamon Darcy is a stroke further adrift on level par while Des Smyth finished on seven-over.

Greg Norman, meanwhile, was unable to reproduce the sparkling form that saw him lead after three rounds at Birkdale but at four-over remains very much in contention.

Sandy Lyle, who pulled out midway through his first round at The Open because of the poor weather conditions, carded the same score as Norman.