VERDURA, Italy, March 29, 2012 (AFP) - Ireland's Peter Lawrie produced a course record eight under par 64 to lead after the opening round at the Sicilian Open here on Thursday.
Lawrie's superb start featured nine birdies and just the one bogey at the Verdura Golf and Spa resort.
The 38-year-old Dubliner leads by one shot from a trio of challengers - Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen, Welshman Jamie Donaldson and Argentina's Tano Goya.
Lawrie has put himself in with a solid chance of adding to his lone European Tour success at the Spanish Open in 2008 after missing the cut last week in Morocco.
"I'm delighted after last week," Lawrie said. "But I came here and really practised hard over the last couple of days and I'm delighted that I actually holed a few putts."
Lawrie added: "You can't win a tournament on Thursday as they always say but you can lose it. I'm not going to get ahead of myself."
Kjeldsen was the early clubhouse leader after a round that included an eagle, six birdies and one bogey.
His 65 was matched by Goya and Donaldson, third last week in the Hassan Trophy, who is seeking his first win on the European Tour at the 249th attempt.
John Daly and Costantino Rocca, who fought out a play-off for the 1995 British Open, were paired togther, with the American posting a 71 and local star Rocca a 77.
Sicilian Open first round scores at the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort here on Thursday (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
64 - Peter Lawrie
65 - Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Jamie Donaldson, Tano Goya (ARG)
66 - Alex Haindl (RSA), Gary Orr, Joakim Lagergren (SWE), Victor Riu (FRA), James Morrison
67 - Sihwan Kim (NOR), Craig Lee, Chris Wood, Alvaro Velasco (ESP), Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL), David Lynn, Sam Hutsby, Shane Lowry, Alastair Forsyth, Richard Green (AUS), Bernd Ritthammer (GER), Bernd Wiesberger (AUT)
68 - Gareth Maybin, Richard McEvoy, Julien Guerrier (FRA), Maarten Lafeber (NED), Tom Lewis, Raymond Russell, Scott Jamieson, Graeme Storm, Jordi Garcia (ESP), Joel Sjoholm (SWE), Do-Hoon Kim (KOR), Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN), Tommy Fleetwood
69 - Mikael Lundberg (SWE), Hans Peter Bacher (AUT), Robert Coles, Mathias Gronberg (SWE), Scott Pinckney (USA), Simon Wakefield, Jose Manuel Lara (ESP), Anthony Wall, Michael Jonzon (SWE), Simon Thornton, Richard Bland, Christian Cevaer (FRA), Andrea Maestroni (ITA), Paul Broadhurst, Tjaart Van Der Walt (RSA), Sam Walker, Rich Beem (USA), Tim Sluiter (NED), Thomas Levet (FRA)
Selected
70 - Garth Mulroy (RSA), Scott Strange (AUS), Edouard Dubois (Fra), Tetsuji Hiratsuka (JPN)
71 - John Daly (USA), Shiv Kapur (IND), Victor Dubuisson (Fra), Jason Knutzon (USA), Andrew Parr (CAN), Paul McGinley
75 - Branden Grace (RSA), Alejandro Canizares (ESP)
76 - Darren Fichardt (RSA)