Only two under after 11 holes, Erlandsson, with a best finish of second in the 2005 Wales Open, eagled the long third, birdied the 442-yard next and then in the fading light closed with four more birdies thanks to putts of 14, 25, 10 and 10 feet.

"That's definitely the toughest stretch, so I'm really pleased," he said.

"It has got to be the best round of my career. I don't think I missed a single shot. I was really spot-on with my swing."

It matched the score of Eamonn Darcy back in 1983, but the Brabazon course has been lengthened since then and so Erlandsson's effort will stand as a new course record on its own in the eyes of the European Tour.

"My card is secure for this year (he was third in the Johnnie Walker Championship earlier this month), so it's a very different game.

"I'm more relaxed and can enjoy playing. It's a good feeling."

Sandelin was joint runner-up in the event last year, but is relieved just to be playing this week.

"Last Thursday afternoon I couldn't walk," said the 40-year-old.

"I had a big back pain, but I had really good treatment and I'm here, I'm fit, I'm happy."

Unlike Erlandsson, Sandelin is fighting to keep his card. At 141st on the money list he needs to climb into the top 115.

Sterne, winner of the Wales Open in June, has no such worries about that, but is concerned about another problem that has been going on for about a year.

"I'm struggling with my feet and it seems to be affecting my calves and my Achilles," he said.

"I'm wearing orthotics and trying to sort it out, but it's proving more difficult than I thought.

"I was not expecting a whole lot because I'm not feeling great. I'm a bit tired even though I've just taken four weeks off and physically it's taken a lot out of me."

Highlight of his round was a 15-foot eagle putt on the long third and, four under with five to play, he then birdied the next three to join Sandelin.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Rory McIlroy began his professional career with a bogey-free 69, but Walker Cup team-mate Lloyd Saltman, also making his tour debut as a pro, managed only a 75.

Not even Tiger Woods can say he chipped in twice in his first three holes as a professional, but that was the way it started for McIlroy.

"If I can play the way I did today there's no reason why I wouldn't think I can be up there going into Sunday," he said.

"I'm just going along for the ride, just playing golf and answering a few questions, that's about it."

In the spotlight ever since he began The Open with a bogey-free 68 in July - it put him in third place - McIlroy had spoken to former amateur rival Oliver Fisher about what life on tour was like.

"He just said these guys aren't much better than we are," commented the former Irish and European champion.

"They just know how to get it around the course and how to try to put some good numbers on the scorecard and that's about it."

Forced to play sideways and backwards out of a pot bunker down the 11th - it was put there to counter the big hitting of Woods at the 2002 Ryder Cup - McIlroy saved par with a 40-foot chip-in, then did it again from 30 feet for birdie at the next.

A chip to four feet on the long 17th, his eighth, and then a 30-foot putt at the sixth which he reckoned was heading for a bunker if it had not gone in brought him his other birdies.

Six members of last year's European Ryder Cup team are in the field and the only one to improve on McIlroy's score was Lee Westwood with a 68.

Colin Montgomerie, three over after seven, came back with five birdies for a 70, the same as Paul McGinley, while Robert Karlsson was one worse, David Howell 72 and Darren Clarke, like Howell struggling all year, a 74 including double bogeys on the long 15th and the 442-yard fourth.