Darren Clarke made the early running on the opening day of the Spanish Open but some poor putting to follow meant the Tyroneman eventually relinquished his lead to Scotland's Andrew Oldcorn.
Playing the back nine first, Clarke opened with six straight birdies marking his best start in a professional event.Clarke’s ability to knock in 20 and 30 foot putts with apparent ease at the beginning deserted him in the latter part of the round.
"I carried on hitting the ball nicely and giving myself chances but where everything went in at the start, then nothing went in," said Clarke.
He went on: "Normally when I make a lot of birdies I tend to keep making them.After that kind of start, I was obviously looking for a bitmore out of the round."
As it transpired the only variation to Clarke’s round was a solitary dropped shot at the seventh to leave him in a tie for third after a five-under par 67.
Meanwhile, Oldcorn was busy compiling a formidable run of his own en route to an opening eight-under par 64.Similar to Clarke, the Scot started on the back nine with a run of five birdies to reach the turn in five-under 31.
Further birdies at the third, fifth, and eighth completed the bogey free round, to give the 41-year-old a two shot advantage over Jean Francois Remesy of France in second.
The Spanish trio of golf heavyweights, Sergio Garcia, Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez are ensuring the home interest remains fervent.Jimenez is currently four-under at the turn while Garcia and Olazabal carded three-under par 69’s.
Of the other Irish players in the field Des Smyth has made the most progress. The veteran shot a two-under par 70 while Eamonn Darcy and David Higgins are both level par after six holes.
Ronan Rafferty finished with a disappointing four-over par 76.
Quotes from Reuters