Damien Mooney set the pace at 6 under at the end of the day one at the Ladbrokes.com 100th Irish PGA Championship after signing for a 66 - dropping only one shot all day at Seapoint Golf Club.
Neil Manchip of the GUI Golf Academy is one shot behind after carding a round of 67.
Course designer, Des Smyth, and Brian McElhinney of Team Ireland share third place on 3 under par.
Shane Lowry is in a group in fifth place along with Barrie Trainor of Team Ireland and David Mortimer of FORE Ireland.
Pre tournament favourite, Damien McGrane, is one under par in a group of eleven players that features Darren McWilliams and Eamonn Brady of Clontarf Golf Club.
Mark Staunton of FORE Ireland is level par after Thursday’s first round.
Philip Walton signed for a 73 to remain one over par in another group of eleven that includes John Kelly of St Margaret’s Golf and Country Club – who dropped shots late in the day - having held second place for the early part of the day.
Kevin Dorrian of Scrabo Golf Club signed for a 76 to finish 3 over par.
Michael Collins of FORE Ireland dropped back to 6 over par after a double bogey on his tenth hole - and then a triple bogey five holes later – the major setbacks. He is joined by Ted Higgins who made the turn in 40 after bogeys on the first four holes signing for a 78.
Live Scoring
http://ire.ocs-europe1.com/tic/tmlsmon.cgi?tourn=0922~cardlink=Y~~season=2010~style=12~groupties=Y~pr=Y~textout=N~bordersize=1~fontsize=M~winfocus=Y~
Live Scoring
http://ire.ocs-europe1.com/tic/tmlsmon.cgi?tourn=0922~cardlink=Y~~season=2010~style=12~groupties=Y~pr=Y~textout=N~bordersize=1~fontsize=M~winfocus=Y~
