Ireland's Sean Quinlivan was among five players to fire a five-under-par 67 to share the lead after the first round of the first stage of the Pre-Qualifying I school at Five Lakes Golf and Country Club yesterday.
Former US Tour player Richie Coughlan of Birr was in joint sixth place at the same venue after a 68, while Brian Omelia was tied 29th after a 72.
Other notable Irish performances included a fine 69 from Walker Cup hero Paddy Gribben. He lies tied 11th at Woodbury, while James Loughnane and Leslie Walker fired 71s to be joint seventh at Cardan Park.
Jim Carvill was best of the Irish at Wynward after a 69, to lie in joint 11th place.
The first stage of Qualifying School, being played under a new system this year, took place over five courses around Britain. It will be played over 72 holes with a minimum of the top 25 and ties from each stage qualifying to Stage Two on October 26th-29th.
Young talent is to be given a chance in the Governor Carey Cup, which Ireland will be defending against the Metropolitan Golf Association of New York, on October 13th-14th.
The matches, dominated by the home side at Portmarnock Hotel and Links last year, will take place at Maidstone GC in East Hampton, which was founded in 1891 and is ranked among the top 50 courses in the US.
The Ireland team is: Stephen Browne (Hermitage), Mark Campbell (UCD), Noel Fox (Portmarnock), Rory Leonard (Banbridge), Peter Martin (Balmoral), Colm Moriarty (Athlone), David Mortimer (Connemara), Andrew McCormick (Scrabo). Non-playing captain: Mick Craddock (Malahide).
The teams play foursomes matches on the opening morning and fourballs in the afternoon, with eight singles matches on the second day.
The Alfred Dunhill Cup committee has announced the players selected to represent the 16 countries competing in the Alfred Dunhill Cup over the Old Course at St Andrews from October 7th-10th.
South Africa, the defending champions who will be going for the first hat-trick in the 15-year history of the event, will be fielding the same team that has won the Alfred Dunhill Cup for the past two years: Ernie Els, the world number six, South African Open champion David Frost and the Novotel Perrier Open de France champion Retief Goosen.
DUNHILL CUP TEAMS
AUSTRALIA: Stuart Appleby, Peter O'Malley, Craig Parry.
CHINA: Cheng Jun, Wu Xiang-Bing, Zhang Lian-Wei.
ENGLAND: David Howell, Mark James, Lee Westwood.
FRANCE: Marc Farry, Jean Francois Remesy, Jean Van de Velde.
INDIA: Vijay Kumar, Jyoli Randhawa, Jeev Milkha Singh.
IRELAND: Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley.
ITALY: Emanuele Canonica, Costantino Rocca, Massimo Scarpa.
JAPAN: Isao Aoki, Tsuyoshi Yoneyama, Katsuyoshi Tomori.
NEW ZEALAND: Frank Nobilo, Phil Tataurangi, Greg Turner.
PARAGUAY: Angel Franco, Carlos Franco, Raul Fretes.
SCOTLAND: Paul Lawrie, Colin Montgomerie, Gary Orr.
SOUTH AFRICA: Ernie Els, David Frost, Retief Goosen.
SPAIN: Sergio Garcia, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jose-Maria Olazbal.
SWEDEN: Gabriel Hjerstedt, Jarmo Sandelin, Patrik Sjoland.
USA: Mark O'Meara, Payne Stewart, A.N. Other.
ZIMBABWE: Tony Johnstone, Mark McNulty, Nick Price.
