The Northern Ireland duo of Cormac Sharvin and Jonathan Caldwell bounced back from missing the cut at last week's Kenya Open with opening 65s at the Kenya Savannah Classic on Tuesday, the two tournaments being hosted on the same course in Nairobi.
Caldwell opened with three straight birdies after starting on the 10th hole and added another on the 15th to turn in four-under 32. He added birdies on the sixth and closing ninth holes for a bogey-free six-under round.
Also starting on the 10th, Sharvin made an eagle three on the 11th and a birdie on the 12th, also a par-5, before dropping a shot at the 13th. A birdie two at the 16th saw him turn in three-under 33 and three birdies in four holes on the front nine helped him round out his 65.
The pair are one shot off the lead with South Africa's Justin Harding making a brilliant start in his bid for back-to-back victories with an opening 64.
Harding carded eight birdies and a single bogey to share the lead with Alejandro Canizares, Joost Luiten and Clement Sordet on seven under par.
“We are playing the same golf course so my strategy stays the same, front foot forward and see if we can keep doing what we were doing last week,” Harding said.
“It’s the type of golf course where you don’t have to birdie every hole, but if you execute your plans you have a hell of a lot of birdie chances – so play the tough holes properly.
“It’s always easy when you’re playing well, don’t ask me where it came from. I’m playing solid and finally rolling a couple of putts in.”
Canizares, who missed the cut last week, fired an eagle and seven birdies in his 64 as he attempts to win a first European Tour title since 2014.
“It’s been a long time since I put a score on the board,” the world number 688 said. “I was confident that my swing was in the right spot; it’s been a while since I felt that.
“My first tournament [this season] was Qatar and I was a little rusty. Last week I didn’t hit the ball that bad, I just made bad mistakes when I shouldn’t have. I had four double bogeys and missed the cut easily.
“But I’m playing good and feel confident with the way I’m hitting it and the way I’m putting.”
Gavin Moynihan opened with a one-over 72 in Nairobi and will need to go low in his second round on Wednesday to make the cut.
Leaderboard
British and Irish unless stated, par 71, (a) denotes amateur
64 Alejandro Canizares (Esp), Clement Sordet (Fra), Joost Luiten (Ned), Justin Harding (Rsa)
65 Cormac Sharvin, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa), Darren Fichardt (Rsa), David Drysdale, Jonathan Caldwell, Marcus Armitage, Matthiam Keyser (Rsa), Ross McGowan
66 David Wakhu (Ken), Emilio Cuartero (Esp), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp), Jazz Janewattananond (Tha), Julian Suri (USA), Lee Slattery, Liam Johnston, Matthias Schwab (Aut), Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Niklas Lemke (Swe), Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra), Sam Horsfield, Scott Hend (Aus)
67 Ashley Chesters, Calum Hill, Carlos Pigem (Esp), Jack Senior, Jens Fahrbring (Swe), Marcel Schneider (Ger), Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn), Maverick Antcliff (Aus), Nino Bertasio (Ita), Rhys Enoch, Romain Langasque (Fra), Scott Vincent (Zim), Toby Tree, Victor Dubuisson (Fra), Wil Besseling (Ned)
68 Adrian Otaegui (Esp), Ben Evans, Craig Howie, Daan Huizing (Ned), Jorge Campillo (Esp), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Lars van Meijel (Ned), Maximilian Kieffer (Ger), Ricardo Santos (Por), Sebastian Soederberg (Swe), Si-Hwan Kim (Kor), Steven Brown, Tae-Hee Lee (Kor)
69 Aaron Cockerill (Can), Alexander Levy (Fra), Dean Burmester (Rsa), Garrick Porteous, Hurly Long (Ger), Jayden Schaper (Rsa), John Catlin (USA), Kristoffer Reitan (Nor), Kurt Kitayama (USA), Lorenzo Gagli (Ita), Lucas Bjerregaard (Den), Shubhankar Sharma (Ind)
70 Aaron Rai, Benjamin Poke (Den), Dale Whitnell, Darius van Driel (Ned), David Coupland, David Howell, Ewen Ferguson, Francesco Laporta (Ita), Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind), George Coetzee (Rsa), JC Ritchie (Rsa), Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa), James Morrison, Joakim Lagergren (Swe), Johannes Veerman (USA), Julien Guerrier (Fra), Lorenzo Scalise (Ita), Martin Leth Simonsen (Den), Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger), Richard Mansell, Robin Roussel (Fra), Sebastian Garcia (Esp)
71 Adrian Meronk (Pol), Alvaro Quiros (Esp), Chris Paisley, Connor Syme, David Law, Greg Snow (Ken), Jordan Smith, Louis de Jager (Rsa), Oliver Farr, Oliver Wilson, Pep Angles (Esp), Richard McEvoy, Richie Ramsay, Riz Charania (Ken), Romain Wattel (Fra), Samuel Chege (Ken)
72 Adrien Saddier (Fra), Bernd Ritthammer (Ger), Dismas Indiza Anyonyi (Ken), Garrick Higgo (Rsa), Gavin Moynihan, Grant Forrest, Jamie Donaldson, (a) Jay Sandhu (Ken), Joel Stalter (Fra), Justus Madoya (Ken), Kyong-Jun Moon (Kor), Mohit Mediratta (Ken), Ondrej Lieser (Cze), Tyler Koivisto (USA), Wilco Nienaber (Rsa)
73 (a) Adel Balala (Ken), Anton Karlsson (Swe), C.J Wangai (Ken), Damien Perrier (Fra), Daniel Young, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Guido Migliozzi (Ita), (a) Isaac Makokha (Ken), Matthew Southgate, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin), Thriston Lawrence (Rsa)
74 Andrew Odoh (Ngr), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Gavin Green (Mal), Matt Ford, Richard Bland, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den), Yi-Keun Chang (Kor)
75 (a) Michael Karanga (Ken), Oliver Fisher, Rikard Karlberg (Swe), Robson Chinoi (Zim), Shiv Chawrasia (Ind), Zander Lombard (Rsa)
76 Edwin Asuza (Ken), Erick Obura (Ken), Haydn Porteous (Rsa), Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den), Pedro Figueiredo (Por), Phillip Kasozi (Uga)
77 Max Schmitt (Ger), Simon Ngige Mburu (Ken)
78 Mathew Omondi (Ken), (a) Njoroge Kibugu (Ken)
80 Matthew Baldwin
82 Deo Akope (Uga), (a) Taimur Malik (Ken)
