Scandinavian Masters: A three-under par 69 left Paul McGinley two shots off the lead after round one of the Scandinavian Masters yesterday. Four birdies and one bogey left the Dubliner in a six-way tie for eighth place at Barseback, near Malmo.

Sweden's Johan Edfors and England Ryder Cup contender David Howell shared the lead on five under par, one shot ahead of Swedes Christopher Hanell, Henrik Stenson and Wilhelm Schauman, and Englishmen Steve Webster and Chris Gane.

Graeme McDowell managed three birdies in his round of 70, after recovering from a bogey five on the opening hole. Wexford's Damien McGrane stood at two under par coming to the last, only to finish with a double bogey six on the ninth, his last.

Howell's fine start moved him a small step closer to a Ryder Cup debut. He missed out on equalling the course record and leading on his own, by bogeying his last hole.

A 30-yard chip in for birdie on the 14th, Howell's fifth hole, made up for his late indiscretion as the 29-year-old Englishman bounced back from two missed cuts to aim for a victory that would virtually seal his place in Bernhard Langer's European team for Oakland Hills, Michigan, in September.

He is eighth on the qualification list with the top 10 by the end of the BMW International Open next month being named in the team along with two wild card picks by Langer.

After his third place in the Scotish Open the week before the British Open, Howell admitted to being affected when he missed his second cut last week after also failing to qualify for the weekend in the Open.

But his mother Sally provided the necessary calming influence.

"I'm not a person who has fabulous highs or unbelievable lows," said Howell after picking up six birdies. "But I was like a bear with a sore head when I took the weekend off last week.

"Mums always know and they have the best words of wisdom and she just told me that I was bound to miss a cut eventually, and she was right.

"This week is as important as they can be. I always wanted to get into the Ryder Cup and never doubted I would. To miss now would be a major, major, blow. I'm fully aware I'm not in yet."

While Howell was peeved at missing two successive cuts, Edfors would have needed all his Swedish cool when checking his record, having missed nine of his last 12 cuts as well as failing to qualify for Troon.

He did have England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson's son Johan on his bag, but Eriksson junior quit the Tour three weeks ago. Fellow-Swede Jesper Parnevik, making a late bid to qualify for Europe's Ryder Cup team or impress Langer for a wild card, is two strokes off the lead.

Colin Montgomerie, another one angling for a wild-card, shot a 72.