Four-way tie at Essendon

James Taverner, Stuart Brown, Darren Charlton and Steve Cipa cut out the running on the first day of the PGA East Region Championship at Essendon Country Club.

Taverner (Hendon) did get it to four-under before his only blemish on the day arrived at the final hole.

Cipa (South Essex Golf Centre) also reached four-under but his solitary bogey came at the 17^th.

Brown (Orton Meadows) was one-over at the turn before a scoring burst of four birdies in five holes from the 12^th.

Charlton (Dunstable Downs) parred the first 14 holes and then triggered a birdie hat-trick from the 15^th that saw him roar into contention.

The quartet are one ahead of David Salisbury (Three Rivers), while a clutch of seven players notched one-under-par 71s.

One of those men is Luke Bowers (Lakeside Lodge) who enjoyed the champagne moment of the first round when he holed out with a four-iron from 229 yards for his first career albatross.

There was also a hole-in-one as Freddie Harrington (Rochford Hundred) produced the perfect nine-iron from 153 yards at the eighth hole.