GOLF/European Tour Qualifying School: Chris Devlin lead a strong Irish challenge at the Five Lakes course in England during yesterday's first round of the first stage of the European Tour qualifying school.
The Northern Ireland golfer fired a three-under-par 69 to be second on his own, just one shot behind Ariel Canete of Argentina, a former Eisenhower Trophy player.
And Devlin was just one shot ahead of David Higgins and two ahead of Ciaran McMonagle.
Raymond Burns got off to a good start in his attempt to reclaim his card after a two-under 70 had him in the top 10 at Carden Park.
Burns was three shots behind American John McGough, a 46-year-old veteran, who upstaged many younger players when he shared the first-round lead at Carden Park, near Chester.
The professional from Fresh Meadow, Illinois, rolled in seven birdies on the tight Cheshire course to post a five-under-par 67 matched by James Holmes, from Crewe, and Phil Edwards, who is attached to Nottinghamshire club Springwater.
English rookie Zane Scotland underlined his potential by storming to the head of the leaderboard after the opening round at Chart Hills in Kent.
Scotland, who became the youngest player ever to compete in the British Open Championship when he qualified for the 1999 event at Carnoustie at the age of 16, posted a sparkling seven-under 65 as his bid for a place on the European Tour got off to a flying start.
Scotland (21), who joined the professional ranks in June, leads by one stroke from countryman Matthew Woods.
At the Golf Und Land Club in Cologne, Germany, Swedish players dominate the early leaderboard. Joakim Gronhagen and Magnus Carlsson set the pace with four-under 68s and finished a stroke ahead of countrymen Fredrik Soderstrom, Andreas Andersson and England's Mike O'Brien.
In France, Italian Stefano Maio emerged on top after the opening round at Golf de Moliets.
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES
At Carden Park
67 (-5) - P Edwards (Eng), J Holmes (Eng), J McGough, 68 - Y Taylor (Wal). 69 - J Mellor (Eng), M Smith (Eng), M Nesbit (Eng), I Ridgway (Eng), E Thomson (Sco). 70 - M Morris (Eng), J McLeary (Scot), R D Steele (am) (Eng), S Edwards (Wal), L Bond (Eng), A Da Silva (Bra), B Austin (Eng), R Burns (NIre), N Reilly (Eng). Other Irish: 72 - G Lunny, 73 - C Moriarty, 74 - D Jones, M Collins, P Dooley, N Fox, 75 - M Hoey, J Kehoe (am).
At Chart Hills
67 (-5) - J Templer (Eng), 68 - P Marantz (Aus), D Close (Eng), 69 - A Mellor (Eng), 70 - GJ Gordon (am) (Scot), B Portie (USA), B Banks (Eng), 71 - A Medley (USA), S Larrea (Spa), R Fenwick (Eng), G Acosta (Arg), B Nicolay (Fra), K Felton (Aus). Irish: 73 - E Brady,
At Five Lakes
68 (-4) - A Canete (Arg), 69 - C Devlin (NIre), 70 - S Sveinsson (Ice), B Sigurbergsson (Ice), D Higgins (Ire), 71 - M Nilsson (Swe), C McMonagle (Ire), JP Peltomaki (Fin), A Summers (Aus), J Makitalo (Fin), J Kok (USA). Other Irish: 73 - D Sugrue, 75 - D Mooney, P Gribben, R Coughlan, 77 - M Murphy (am), 80 - E Barton (am), C Mallon.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)