Damien McGrane holds a share of the Madeira Island Open lead after a blistering run of four birdies in his first five holes helped him card a five-under-par 66. The Meathman heads the leaderboard alongside Sweden’s Joakim Haeggman at Porto Santo.
Starting on the back nine, winner of last year’s China Open and one of the favourites for a first prize of just over €116,000, picked up shots at the 10th, 11th, 12th and 14th holes but needed to hole a bunker shot at the last to move level with the Swede.
Having turned in 31, further birdies came at the third and ninth, but there were also bogeys on the second and fifth.
On his dramatic closing stroke the 37-year-old said: “I thought I was right up on the bank and I was delighted to see that it had gone in the bunker to be honest.
“It was still an extremely difficult bunker shot, but one of those rare things happened where not only did I put the ball on the green, but I managed to get it in the hole.
“It was a spectacular way to finish. I played really well all day — the bogeys were really down to the wind as opposed to bad shots.”
Haeggman had earlier made his move on the same stretch of the course, with five birdies in six holes from the turn propelling him up the standings.
The former Ryder Cup star reached the turn on level par but birdied the 10th and then had four in a row from the 12th to move two ahead of Spain’s Carl Suneson (68), Argentina’s Estanislao Goay and England's Andrew Butterfield.
It is 16 years since Haeggman became the first Swede to play in the Ryder Cup, but he is not 40 until August and still wants his future to be on the European Tour.
“I felt like an old man on the Challenge Tour last year and if I’d failed at the qualifying school in November it was probably the end of the story,” said Haeggman.
Instead he finished joint fifth with Chris Wood and a seventh-place finish at the Joburg Open in January further boosted his confidence.
“This is still what I want to do,” added Haeggman, who since his last Tour victory at the 2004 Qatar Masters has slumped to 445th in the world.
“I’ve been working hard like everybody else and now I’ve got my foot in the door I’m going to try to stick it in as hard as I can.”
Micheal McGeady and Michael Hoey both remain in contention after rounds of 69, but there was disappointment for Jonathan Caldwell who carded a 76 to finish five-over for the day.
Simon Thornton fared even worse, going out in 43 blows and dropping further shots on the way home, including a triple bogey at the last, to stand 12-over.
Collated first round scores
(Irl & Gbr & unless stated,
Irishin bold, par 71)
66Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Damien McGrane
68Carl Suneson (Spa), Andrew Butterfield, Estanislao Goya (Arg)
69Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Wil Besseling (Ned), Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Michael McGeady, Paul Waring, Santiago Luna (Spa), Michael Hoey
70Stuart Davis, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa), Richard McEvoy, Paul Broadhurst
71Garry Houston, Christian Nilsson (Swe), Jan Are Larsen (Nor), Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Scott Drummond, Javier Colomo (Spa), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Gary Clark, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Michele Reale (Ita)
72Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Adilson Da Silva (Bra), David Griffiths, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Branden Grace (Rsa), Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe), Anthony Wall, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), David Drysdale, Gary Boyd, Costantino Rocca (Ita), Bradley Dredge
73Richie Ramsay, Ake Nilsson (Rsa), David Horsey, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice), Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Hugo Santos (Por), Marc Cayeux (Zim), Matthew Mills, Andrew Willey, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut)
74Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Roope Kakko (Fin), Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa), Robert Coles, Andrew Coltart, Klas Eriksson (Swe), Clodomiro Carranza (Arg), Alexandre Rocha (Bra), Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel), Gary Lockerbie, John E Morgan, Graham Gordon, Callum Macaulay, Michael Jonzon (Swe), Ricardo Santos (Por)
75David Carter, Liam Bond, Roger Chapman, Steven O'Hara, Simon Wakefield, Anthony Snobeck (Fra), Andre Bossert (Swi), Scott Barr (Aus), Matthew Morris, Nathan T Smith (USA), Marcel Siem (Ger), Phillip Price, Dominique Nouailhac (Fra), Inder Van Weerelt (Ned), Thomas Feyrsinger (Aut), Antonio Sobrinho (Por), Ignacio Garrido (Spa)
76Martin Wiegele (Aut), Simon Robinson, Jonathan Caldwell, Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Kane Webber (USA), Tiago Cruz (Por), Iain Pyman, Sam Walker, Lee Slattery, Nuno Henriques (Por), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), James Kamte (Rsa)
77Pedro Linhart (Spa), Rolf Muntz (Ned), Federico Colombo (Ita), Antti Ahokas (Fin), Sion Bebb, Julien Clement (Swi), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Johan Wahlqvist (Swe)
78Richard Bland, Chris Wood, Mikko Korhonen (Fin), David Lynn, Antonio Rosado (Por), Petter Bocian (Swe), Taco Remkes (Ned), Michael Curtain (Aus)
79Alex Haindl (Rsa), Chris Gane, Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Antonio Dantas (Por), Marco Ruiz (Par), Nuno Campino (Por), Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Matthew Millar (Aus), Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa), Christopher Doak
80Luke Gough, Raphael De Sousa (Swi), Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Stuart Manley, Ben Mason
81John Mellor, Marcus Higley, Pedro Figueiredo (Por), Joao Pedro Sousa (Por), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe)
82Peter Baker, Simon Griffiths
83George Murray, Peter Whiteford, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa), Lars Brovold (Nor), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Simon Thornton, Philip Golding, Manuel Violas (Por)
85Nicolas Meitinger (Ger)
88Goncalo S Braga (Por), Duarte Freitas (Por)
