The fourth at Galgorm CastleFive Irishmen share sixth place after the opening round of the £16,000 Galgorm Castle Northern Ireland Open on the PGA Europro Tour.

John Kelly made a solid start at Galgorm Castle. Pictured at last year’s Irish PGA by Jenny Matthews/golffile.ieTeam Ireland’s Brendan McCarroll and Portmarnock’s Noel Fox put their failure to come through Local Final Qualifying for the Open Championship behind them to shoot four under 68s and match Masserene’s David Hughes, St Margaret’s John Kelly and Bushfoot’s David Jones. Scores

Scotland’s Ross Cameron fired seven birdies and an eagle in a superb, nine under par 63 to lead by three shots from English trio James Busby, Chris Hanson and Graeme Clark with Ian Ridgeway alone in fifth spot on five under after a 67 that included a hole-in-one at the 141-yard seventh.

Damian Mooney eagled the 550-yard 18th  to shoot a three under 69 to share 14th with the likes of Mallow’s Michael Collins and remain well in contention for the £10,000 top prize in the 54-hole event with Jonny Caldwell shooting 70 and Michael Lavelle, Barrie Trainor, Chris Hughes, Cian Curley and amateur Reeve Whitson all returning one under 71’s.

The top 50 players plus ties after Friday’s second round will make the cut for the final round on Saturday.