Martin Wiegele of Austria continued his excellent form as he shot a five under par 66 to share the first round lead with Colm Moriarty at the Saint-Omer Open presented by Neuflize OBC
The Austrian, eighth on The Challenge Tour rankings after victory in his native Austria at the start of the month, shot six birdies with a solitary dropped shot.
Wiegele's bogey came when he three-putted the second, but he responded well with the putter and believes the confidence of his win in at the Karnten Golf Open by Markus Brier Foundation can be maintained.
Colm Moriarty, a 31 year old Challenge Tour regular, also shot six birdies before a dropped shot at the last cost him the outright lead.
"I played very nicely," he said. "It wasn't as breezy as it has been over the past few days, so that helped. But I drove the ball really well, and set up a lot of chances - particularly early on. I got off to a great start with a birdie at the first, where I hit it pretty close.
"I did the same on the sixth, then I birdied ten, 12 and 13 to get to six under par. So at that point I was hitting a lot of shots close and also putting very nicely, but unfortunately I bogeyed the 17th after pushing my tee shot out to the right of the green, and I didn't manage to get up and down. But any time you shoot a 66 round here, you've got to be fairly happy."
French duo Michael Lorenzo-Vera and Charles-Edouard Russo form part of a five-way tie for third on three under, along with England's Andrew Marshall, Australian Wade Ormsby and Sweden's Joakim Backstrom.
Gary Murphy shot a four over par 75 on day one to lie in 103rd place overnight.
