Gavin Moynihan showed signs of a return to form by making six birdies in an opening 70 at the Challenge Tour’s Dormy Open in Sweden.

The Dubliner is tied 33rd at Österåkers Golfklubb near Stockholm, six strokes behind four-time European Tour winner Matteo Manassero (28), whose eight-under 64 gave him a one-shot lead over France’s Victor Riu and Sweden’s Bjorn Hellgren.

Scores

Michael Hoey, Tom McKibbin and Conor Purcell we 77th after level par 72s with James Sugrue 109th after a 74 and Robin Dawson 153rd after an 81.

Manassero’s 64 was his lowest round on either the European Tour or European Challenge Tour since the 2012 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.

The four-time European Tour winner admits he did not expect the scoring to be as low as it was on the Henrik Stenson designed Öster Course but rode the wave of momentum to post the low round of the day.

“To be honest when we practised I didn’t see scores like that coming but it was one of those days in which things went the right direction,” he said.

“Everything about this course is difficult. Off the tee the fairways are quite wide but if you miss, most of the time it’s in the water so you are just taking penalties.

“There was not much wind today but when the wind picks up a little bit, it becomes a real challenge, even off the tee. The greens are very slopy, fast and quite firm to be honest, so you’ve got to be precise with your second shot.

“You have to be precise with your first, with your second and then you need quite an imagination on your putting because the greens have really hard slopes, so it’s a really complete course. Henrik did a great job.”

Manassero carded nine birdies and dropped just one shot on the opening day in Sweden and he is hoping to build on his solid start as he eyes his maiden Challenge Tour title.

“I played well and everything seemed to go in the right way, so I’m really happy and hopefully I can keep it going,” he said.

“The game was not so strong last week. I practised a bit and it was stronger today. I was obviously really surprised and delighted with how I played today and I am looking forward to the next few days and we’ll see how it goes. In golf, there is always a new day in a good and a bad way, so I’ll just keep my focus and do my own things.”

Hellgren and Riu share a two-shot cushion to Swedish trio Hampus Bergman, Henric Sturehed and Jesper Svensson, Finland’s Roope Kakko and American Douglas Quinones, who all share fourth place on five under par

Meanwhile, Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow return to action in the LPGA Tour's Pure Silk Championship at Kingsmill Resort’s River Course in Virginia today.

Maguire is 16th in the Race to CME Globe points list thanks to two-tops 10s from her first six starts while 78th ranked Meadow is flying high after coming through Local Qualifying in Arizona last week for next month’s US Women’s Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco.