Paul McBride briefly held the clubhouse lead but will happily settle for a place in the top-five after the opening round of the Dormy Open on the Challenge Tour.
The Dubliner carded five birdies, an eagle and two bogeys in a five-under 67 at Österåkers Golfklubb which had him atop the leaderboard after the morning wave of starters had completed their rounds.
However, he would be overtaken in the afternoon by Finland’s Lauri Ruuska, who found six birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free 64 that has him two shots clear of the field at the conclusion of play.
However, McBride will likely still be pleased at positioning himself in a share of fifth after day one as he goes in search of a first top-10 finish since May 2021, although there is still a long way to go in Stockholm.
Ruuska is the man in control so far, the 28-year-old Finn starting with a bang as he finished eagle-birdie to open up a small gap to the rest of the pack, with Sweden’s Per Längfors, Denmark’s Jeppe Kristian Andersen and Spain’s David Borta tied for second after a trio of six-under 66s.
Meanwhile, Ruaidhri McGee and John Murphy have work to do to make the cut after a pair of level-par 72s in their first rounds, while Tom McKibbin even more so having opened with a one-over 73 as all three look to boost their Road to Mallorca hopes.
McGee will not be too disheartened given he finished his day with two birdies in his last five holes to pull himself back up to level-par, with Murphy mixing three birdies with three bogeys in his opening round.
McKibbin, who comes into this event off the back of his best DP World Tour finish at last week’s ISPS HANDA World Invitational, had four bogeys and three birdies to hold a share of 96th.
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