Swede Oscar Floren posted a flawless six under par 66 to take the first round lead in the Irish Open, edging a shot clear of the clubhouse target set earlier in the day by Carton House‘s Tour Professional Shane Lowry.

Floren, who is yet to finish better than 25th in a European Tour event this season, notched four birdies and an eagle on the par four 13^th hole  – his fourth after starting on the tenth – for his best round of the year to date.

“I played great today and it was nice to get off to a good start again,” he said. “I’ve had good starts the last couple of weeks but this was very good.

“It was very, very solid and that’s the way I like to play, to hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, and eventually some putts are going to drop.”

It was Irishman Lowry who had initially set the pace, using his local knowledge of the Montgomerie Course to his advantage for an opening 67, a score which was then matched by Dutchman Joost Luiten, American Peter Uihlein, Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Gonnet and Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey.

Despite starting his round with a bogey after teeing off the tenth hole, Lowry went on to card six birdies as he attempts to win the Irish Open for a second time, following his success as an amateur in 2009.

“I got off to a shaky enough start, which wasn’t ideal, but I knew my golf was good enough coming into the week and I was really happy with the way I followed that up.
“I was kind of chomping at the bit to get out there and I was just trying to play my way into the tournament. On this golf course you shoot 75 out there in the blink of an eye by not doing too much wrong.          So I was just trying to play my way into it and not start playing my way out of it.”

Dane Thomas Björn, champion the last time the Irish Open was played at Carton House in 2006 and runner up in last week’s BMW International Open in Germany, is a further shot back on four under, amongst a group of five players that also includes Irishman Cian McNamara, Englishman Paul Casey and 2012 Ryder Cup Captain José María Olazábal.

Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington both opened with one under par rounds of 71, while World Number Two Rory McIlroy signed for a two over par 74.

Complete first rounds scores from the Irish Open

66 O Floren  (Swe) ,

67 J Luiten (Ned) , S Lowry  (Irl) , M Hoey  (Nir) , P Uihlein  (USA) , J Gonnet  (Fra) ,

68 M Lundberg (Swe) , P Casey  (Eng) , A Dodt (Aus) , T Björn (Den) , J Olazábal (Esp) , C McNamara (Irl) ,

69 J Donaldson (Wal) , G Storm  (Eng) , S Thornton (Irl) , C Paisley  (Eng) , M Warren (Sco) , R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) , R Jacquelin (Fra) , R Rock (Eng) , E Goya (Arg) , P Larrazábal (Esp) ,  A Hansen (Den) , G Mulroy (RSA) , S Power  (Irl) ,

70 F Andersson Hed (Swe) , M Kieffer (Ger) , A Hartø  (Den) , A Dunbar (Nir) , M Ilonen  (Fin) , P McGinley (Irl) , B Åkesson (Swe) , D Howell (Eng) ,

71 A Snobeck  (Fra) , S Hansen (Den) , J Lagergren (Swe) , S Little (Eng) , S Kjeldsen (Den) , O Fisher  (Eng) , P Harrington (Irl) , P Lawrie (Sco) , R Santos  (Por) , S Dodd (Wal) , E Kofstad (Nor) , G Maybin (Nir) , M Baldwin (Eng) , T Levet (Fra) , J Lara (Esp) , E Pepperell (Eng) , R Finch  (Eng) , N Fasth (Swe) , D Gaunt (Aus) , P Whiteford (Sco) , A Cañizares  (Esp) , R Bland (Eng) , I Garrido (Esp) , G McDowell  (Nir) ,

72 L Jensen (Den) , J Campillo (Esp) , D Drysdale (Sco) , F Aguilar (Chi) , A Sullivan (Eng) , D Fichardt (RSA) , P Lawrie (Irl) , A Tadini (Ita) , J Parry (Eng) , C Lloyd (Eng) , C Del Moral (Esp) , A Kaleka  (Fra) , A Quiros  (Esp) , M Lampert (Ger) , L Gagli  (Ita) , B McGovern (Irl) , J Walters (RSA) , G Stal  (Fra) , M Foster (Eng) , B Rumford (Aus) , S Gallacher (Sco) , K Phelan (am) (Irl) ,

73 R Derksen (Ned) , M Lafeber (Ned) , R Davies (Wal) , G Shaw (Nir) , S Webster (Eng) , P Hedblom (Swe) , R Fisher (Eng) , J Morrison (Eng) , E De La Riva (Esp) , P Waring (Eng) , P Sjöland (Swe) , F Zanotti (Par) , L Slattery (Eng) , R Gonzalez (Arg) , S Benson (Eng) , F Molinari (Ita) , C Macaulay (Sco) , T Fleetwood (Eng) , D Willett (Eng) , R Sterne (RSA) , E Grillo (Arg) , G Moynihan (am) (Irl) , R Pugh (am) (Wal) ,

74 G Havret  (Fra) , M Staunton (Irl) , K Broberg (Swe) , D Brooks (Eng) , R Wattel  (Fra) , R McIlroy  (Nir) , R Green (Aus) , J Van Zyl (RSA) , M Carlsson  (Swe) , D Mooney (Nir) , J Edfors (Swe) , T Lewis (Eng) , J Kruger (RSA) , R Coles (Eng) , V Dubuisson  (Fra) , S Henry  (Sco) , A Levy (Fra) , M Murphy  (Irl) ,

75 D McGrane (Irl) , S Arnold  (Aus) , J Hansen  (Den) , J Singh (Ind) , M Jonzon (Swe) , D Clarke (Nir) , M Nixon (Eng) , M Delpodio  (Ita) , S Chowrasia (Ind) , B Stone (RSA) , P Price (Wal) , S Wakefield (Eng) , S Dyson  (Eng) , M Campbell (Nzl) ,

76 C Doak (Sco) , S Khan (Eng) , S Jamieson  (Sco) , R Whitson (am) (Nir) ,

77 H Otto (RSA) , D Higgins (Irl) , G Lockerbie  (Eng) , M Southgate  (Eng) , D Van Der Walt (RSA) , T McCumber (USA) , J Sjöholm (Swe) , H Wen-Yi (Chn) ,

78 M Tullo (Chi) , R McEvoy  (Eng) , C Lee (Sco) , M Wiegele  (Aut) , K Horne (RSA) ,

79 D Ryan (Irl) , C Cévaër (Fra) , B Trainor  (Irl) ,

81 J Kelly (Irl) ,

82 D Gleeson (Irl) ,