Switzerland's Paolo Quirici fired a record-equalling 65 on the Parador Malaga course yesterday to take a two-shot lead in the Turespana Masters.

Quirici ran in nine birdies to finish two shots clear of a group of 12 that included European Ryder Cup captain Mark James.

The Swiss, who equalled his best Tour finish last year with joint fourth in the British Masters, has performed well in the Turespana before. "I shot nine-under in this event two years ago when playing with Jesus Arruti, who was today's playing-partner," said Quirici. "So I should try to play with him all the time.

"I think the reason for this score was because I've been working very hard since last year with my new coach Andrea Ferrario and we have made many changes to my game."

One player almost certain to be in James' Ryder Cup side is Darren Clarke, although the 30-year-old's indifferent start to the year continued yesterday.

Clarke shot a one-over 73 and headed straight for the practice ground where he spent four hours working on his swing with Derrick Cooper, who had a hole-in-one on the sixth on his way to a 69.

"Obviously my round wasn't as good as I'd have liked it to be," said Clarke, who was playing only his eighth round of the year. "I made a few stupid errors, missed five greens and it cost me five shots.

"But I'm much happier now after four valuable hours on the practice ground. A lot of it is being rusty, and there's a little flaw in my technique that I'm working on with Derrick helping me by re-iterating what my coach Pete Cowen has said."

Des Smyth was best of the Irish contingent and continued where he left off last weekend by firing a three under par 69. However, it could have been at least one shot better had he not three-putted the last for a bogey five. After matching par on the front nine Smyth birdied the 10th, 15th and 16th and a 20-foot putt on the 17th set him up nicely before losing that shot on the last.

"The course is there for a good score," he said afterwards. By Tour standards it is not a long course and its only real defence is the wind. They have made the greens really hard, so the Tour is trying to toughen things up. I'm pleased because I made a lot of pars and had a few other birdie chances. A 69 is a pretty fair score."

Eamon Darcy opened up solidly with a two under 70, while Padraig Harrington was another shot further adrift after a 71. Christy O'Connor Jnr and Philip Walton both shot level par 72s and John McHenry finished with a two over 74.

Meanwhile, James said yesterday that he will adopt a softly, softly approach to assessing the contenders for a place in this year's Ryder Cup team. James had the chance to observe at first hand England's John Bickerton - one of the outsiders for the 12-man team to face America in September - over the Parador Del Golf course.

But James insisted he did not ask to be paired with the in-form 29year-old who finished second in the Portuguese Open last week.

James revealed he could even deliberately avoid certain players who are in contention for a place in the side to defend the trophy in Boston, unlike the distinctly hands-on approach adopted by Seve Ballesteros.

"I'm not changing any draw the whole year," said James, who has made seven Ryder Cup appearances as a player. "I play with one guy or other just by pure chance. I don't want to be found pushing players who are on the edge anyway. They don't need it.

Any such pressure certainly didn't seem to get to Bickerton who continued his rich vein of form.