After taking just 26 putts, he said: “I am playing solid and not making too many mistakes. The key to a good round today was mastering the greens.”

Oliver Serres of France, Scotland’s Paul O’Hara, Norwegian Anders Kristiansen and English pair Billy Hemstock and Ben Newsome all shot two-under par 70’s to share second place.

Irish Close and West of Ireland champion Shane Lowry is three shots off the pace in a share of seventh place with Ulsterman Connor Doran after a poor finish forced him settle for a one-under par 71.

After two bogeys in the last four holes, Lowry said: “It could have been a lot better, mid 60s to be honest. But I didn't hole the putts.

“A 71 is not out of the tournament and I'm still there. I could have shot four-under easily. That's the way it goes, that's golf.”

Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney and Warrenpoint's Jim Carvill are lurking on level-par 72 but Belmullet’s Mick Lavelle crashed to a 78 after getting just four hours sleep following his overnight trip from

his brother’s wedding in Malta.

Set to turn professional in next week’s Irish Open at Adare Manor, the former cabinet maker only arrived at the course with 90 minutes to spare before his 10.30am tee-time.

The 33-year-old said: “I’m knackered now and need my bed. Hopefully we can do a bit better tomorrow, finish well and get ready for next week.”

AIB Irish Amateur Open

Rd 1

68: E Arthurs (Forrest Little)

70: O Serres (France), P O'Hara (Scotland), A Kristiansen (Norway),

B Hemstock (England), B Newsome (England)

71: S Lowry (Esker Hills), C Doran (Banbridge)

72: G Cambis (France), X Poncelet (France), N Kearney (Royal

Dublin), D Lernihan (Castle), M Thistleton (England), M Durcan (Co

Sligo), J Carvill (Warrenpoint)

73: J Roth (Denmark), M Oueld-Es-Cheikh (France), P Murray

(Limerick), H Satama (Finland), J Mikkelsen (Norway), N Gorey (Lee

Valley), P Figueiredo (Portugal), K McNicoll (Scotland), P Cutler

(Portstewart), E Richardson (England), C Curley (Newlands), F Keenan

(England), M Delay-Termoz (France), R Kellett (Scotland), J Fox

(Portmarnock), F De Vries (Holland), E Kennedy (Rosapenna), J Brun

(France)

74: R Carson (Scotland), R Cannon (L'town & B'town), R Durnin

(L'town & B'town), L Cohen-Boyer (France),

Z Gould (Wales), M Veijalainen (Finland), G Dear (Scotland), B Walton

(The Island), J Lerchedahl (Denmark), A Levy (France), R Hooper (Wales)

75: J Guilllet (France), M Stewart (Scotland), S Malone (Australia),

G Ozcan (Turkey), L Weber (France), L Eriksson (Finland), D Antonelli

(France), T Pollari (Finland), J Smedley (England), F Rouilleaux

(France), C Macaulay (Scotland), V Guillaume (France), J Lyons (Galway)

76: J Morris (Rosslare), R Zwahlen (France), F Illouz (France), M

Hillson (Scotland), A Hogan (Newlands),

C Perrot (France), N Henderson (Scotland), J Stalter (France), F

Abadie (France), P McLean (Scotland), S Henry (Scotland), E

O'Sullivan (The Island)

77: S Gautier (France), A McAllister (Portmarnock), O Sharpe

(England), J Gallagher (Scotland), R McCarthy (The Island), G Yates

(Scotland), R Leonard (Banbridge), A Knappe (Germany), P O'Hanlon

(Curragh), M Hocaoglu (Turkey), N Grant (Knock), G Lawlor (City

West), T Dreher (France), J Monaghan (The Island), Z Saltman

(Scotland), S Brown (England), W Booth (Scotland)

78: E Mercadier (France), E Vieilledent (France), J Lando-Casanova

(France), R McGee (Malone), L Tintera (Czech Republic), B Fennelly

(The Royal Dublin), R Boal (Castle), M Lavelle (K Club), M Novy

(Czech Republic), K McDonagh (Athlone), R McKnight (Scotland)

79: S McAllister (Scotland), D Bobrowski (France), S Webster

(Castle), R Dupuis (France)

80: T Gornik (Slovenia), L Lennox (Moyola Park), K McAlpine

(Scotland), E McAnoy (Knock), G Hall (Edenderry), A Gabella-Wenne

(Sweden)

81: G Blainey (England)

82: N Peyrichou (France), T Linard (France), X Feyaerts (Belguim)

83: A Pierse (Tipperary), E Charmat (France)

84: K Turlan (France), M Sinclair (Knock), N Dean (England)

85: J Prince (England)

91: A Arnaudet (France)

RTD: M O'Sullivan (USA), E McCormack (Galway)