A round of 64 with no dropped shots, four birdies and an eagle three, put Jose-Filipe Lima of Portugal into a tie with England's Nick Dougherty at the top of the leaderboard after the first round of 36-hole International Final Qualifying for The Open Championship at Sunningdale Golf Club.
Lima picked up five shots in four holes in a blistering run from the 11th with three straight birdies followed by an eagle at the 503 yard 14th.
"It was a good round, very solid," he said. "The first nine holes was difficult because I was tired. But I went through one-under with good chipping and putting. I was very happy. The back nine was very good, very consistent. I holed a few putts, hit very good shots, made a very good eagle on the par-five after a four-iron to one meter. No mistakes on the back nine, played it in 30. Now another to play. I don't really like to play in the rain, but we have to."
Born in Versailles, Lima became the French Number One amateur player before he adopted his parents' Portugese nationality. He finished tied for second in the recent BMW International and is currently 60th on the European Tour Order of Merit.
Three birdies in the opening four holes gave Dougherty a flying start in wet and windy conditions and he reached the turn in 33 after dropping a shot at the 193 yard eighth. Five pars and four more birdies brought him home in 31 to take a one shot lead over Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain and Alastair Forsyth of Scotland as the first round of 36-hole qualifying neared an end.
"I'm very pleased with that," said Dougherty. "The course is playing tougher than normal and there's quite a bit of wind out there. I've never played that course well, to be honest. I don't think I've broken par. It's a good start, obviously, going into this afternoon."
