Federica Piovano of Italy holds a two shot lead after the opening round of the Ladies Irish Open at the Portmarnock Links today.

A run of birdie, eagle, par, birdie gave the 26-year-old from Rome an opening round of five-under-par 67. Impressive play, when you consider only 12 players in the field managed to break par.

World number three Suzann Pettersen is the Italian's closest rival, a round of 69 leaving her two shots off the pace, while Martina Gillen heads the Irish challenge on two-over.

"I played the way I wanted to play, kept it calm and my concentration was good," said Piovano afterwards.  "I accepted my mistakes. It was pretty hard with the wind. I just managed to make birdies and recovered whenever I needed to."