The rain in Spain did nothing to aid the Irish cause on the opening day of the OKI Telepizza Challenge Tour event at Golf del Guadiana at Badajoz. As the heavens opened to produce non-Spanish conditions, not one of the Irish quintet managed to break par.
Best was David Higgins with a one-over-par 73 but Raymond Burns, playing his first Challenge Tour event for five years, and Francis Howley each carded 75. Gary Murphy is among a large group on 77 while Sean Quinlivan struggled in with a 78.
It leaves them all trailing well behind the pace-setters, Sebastian de Miguel of Spain, Welshman David Park, and Mattias Eliasson of Sweden, who each posted 66.
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