England's David Howell signalled the end of a three-month loss of form when he closed with an eagle to take a share of the early first-round lead in his defence of the BMW International Open today.
European order of merit leader Howell's five-under-par 67 took him alongside tournament outsider Martin Erlandsson of Sweden to hold a one-shot advantage over the field.
Howell at last had some form to show Europe's Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam, with whom he played.
Another of Woosnam's certainties for the match against the United States next month, fellow Briton Luke Donald, also performed well in front of the skipper for the K-Club.
Donald's 68 left him sharing third place with Portuguese Jose-Filipe Lima and gallery favourite Marcel Siem of Germany.
Woosnam did not fare as well as his team members, struggling to a 76. On Sunday, the Welsh veteran names his two wild cards. He has refused to talk further about his possible picks until his wild card news conference.
Donald and Howell do not have any wild-card worries. They are hoping to get a practice round at the Irish Ryder Cup venue before the match and Howell now hopes he has shed his worries about losing form suddenly after taking his second title of the year, the PGA Championship at Wentworth in May.
At the start of the season he had overcome Tiger Woods to win the Champions Tournament in China.
"I can't even remember the last time I had an eagle," Howell said after sinking the eight-footer at his last hole. "Hopefully that is going to be the turning point now. The poor run I've had came as a bit of a shock because it had been two or three months plain sailing up to then.
"I've just worked hard and hoped I could start rolling in the putts again, sure I would turn things around eventually. Obviously with the big one (Ryder Cup) not far away, I'm delighted with today."
Although Damien McGrane is the leading Irishman on one under through 12 holes, all eyes are on the group containing Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley. Both are looking to cement their place on Woosie's team. As it stands both were one over par through five holes.
However, the good news was that their closest rivals in the Ryder Cup race, Johan Edfors and John Bickerton, only shot respective rounds of level par and one over.
Gary Murphy was level par through seven holes while Peter Lawrie was also one over, one better than Graeme McDowell during the early stages of their rounds. David Higgins and Michael Hoey were both struggling at four and six over respectively.
