Kinsale’s John Murphy and Royal Dublin’s Hugh Foley opened with six-under 66s to lie just a shot off the pace in the Alps Tour’s New Giza Open in Cairo.
Murphy was out in the second group of the day and birdied the second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh to turn in five-under 31.
He picked up another shot at the 10th to get to six-under and followed a bogey at the par-five 12th with a birdie four at the 17th to take the clubhouse lead.
“Today there were good conditions, not much wind,” Murphy said. “So this morning there were quite a few opportunities, and I managed to take advantage of them well.
“I never put too much pressure on myself and stayed pretty stress-free for most of the time. In the last few weeks, I’ve struggled in the first round to get going and basically knocked myself out of the tournament.
“So this time, I tried to focus more on relaxing from the start, and I did a good job with that. Overall, I’m happy with the score, but obviously there’s still a lot of golf to play.”
Foley started on the back nine at New Giza Golf Club and birdied the 12th and 18th to turn in 34 before racing home in 32.
The Dubliner birdied the first, third, sixth and seventh before following a bogey at the eighth with a closing birdie four.
They ended the day tied for second, a shot behind Argentina’s Gaston Bertinotti – a former Campbell University star – who made an eagle, seven birdies and two bogey sixes in his 65.
Galway’s Ronan Mullarney, who lies fifth in the rankings race for five HotelPlanner Tour cards after the first two event, made four birdies and two bogeys in a 70 to share 29th place.
Castle’s Robert Moran was joint 43rd after he made five birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey in 71.
Carton House’s Marc Boucher turned in four-over 40 on the back nine but birdied the fifth and ninth to shoot a 74 that left him tied for 92nd in the 118-man field.
