Duo Share Lead At Owston Hall - 10/05/2008

DESPITE intermittent rain on the opening day of The Matchroom Golf Management Classic at Owston Hall, 78 players still managed to shoot par or better leaving the field wide open.

Graham Rankin, attached to Drumpellier, holds a share of the lead after a seven-under-par round of 65 which included seven birdies and not a single bogey.

And Chislehurst's Andrew Butterfield joined him with a near-identical round which featured eight birdies and a bogey.

Michael Welch (Hawkstone Park) was on course to join them until a bogey at 17 spoilt his otherwise clean round of seven birdies.

Alongside Welch at six-under-par is Bryan Smyth (Mourne) who made six birdies in another round which saw him fail to drop a shot.

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