Kearney and Nicol share Europro lead

Scotland’s Kris Nicol and Irishman Niall Kearney, above, share a one-stroke lead after shooting four-under-par 68s on the opening day of the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour season on The Belfry’s Brabazon Course.

The pair are trailed in The Matchroom Championship by the six golfers who signed for opening-rounds of 69, three-under. Among those tied for third are 1991 Ryder Cup player Paul Broadhurst and 2013 EuroPro Tour event winners Alex Belt and Marcus Armitage.

Kearney was the first of the leaders to complete his opening round. Teeing off on the tenth he opened his account for the week with a birdie and moved to two under when he made three at the 16^th. Coming in he made three further birdies, but dropped a shot on the ninth.

“I drove it well today and got a nice feel of the greens,” said the Irishman. “I got it in close a few times and managed to hole the putts.

“The course is fantastic, it is a great test of golf. It is fair and tough around the greens. I hit a lot of greens and made it very easy for myself. If you are trying to get to the greens from the rough it is tough.”

Kearney’s co-leader Nicol, above, was in one of the last groups out on day one. He made an impressive six birdies, but was left to rue fives on the par-four fourth and 18^th holes.

The tournament is a 54-hole strokeplay competition, featuring 156 of Europe’s best young golfers. Spectator entry is free of charge throughout, and Thursday’s final round will be filmed for a two-hour highlights package to be broadcast on Sky Sports HD on April 29^th, with several repeats in the following days.

A cut to the leading 50 players and ties will take place after Wednesday’s second round, which begins at 7:30am. Live scoring can be found at www.europrotour.com.