Lawrie and Browne in the hunt in Spain

Ireland's Peter Lawrie and Stephen Browne are just two shots off the pace the Spanish Open at San Roque after the first round.

Each carded a five under par 67 as former British amateur champion Graeme Storm and Portugal’s Jose-Felipe Lima then came in with 65s to head the field.

However, it was Seve Ballesteros’s nephew Raul who stole the show today. After seven years of trying made a real mark of his own on the European Tour, he finally did it today – but only for 16 holes.

The 25-year-old, yet to earn a tour card and reliant on invitations, stood a magical nine under par and four clear of the field.

One more birdie and Ballesteros would have matched the lowest round of his uncle’s glittering career.

But instead he finished bogey-double bogey and did not even finish the day in the lead.

“I got a bit nervous – I was thinking ‘I am nine under’ and it’s never happened to me before,” he said.

Colin Montgomerie, meanwhile, shot a 68 which he instantly predicted would be his “worst score of the week“.

The eight-time European number one, six under prior to double-bogeying the fifth hole when his drive bounced off a cart path into bushes, had been involved in a frantic search before the round to find a new caddie.

Regular bag-man Alastair McLean caught a bug in China last week and telephoned Montgomerie at 6am saying he felt awful.

“It’s a little bit worrying and he’s gone back to London,” said the Scot, who managed to discover that Thomas Levet’s former caddie Owen Craig was holidaying in the area and tracked him down in time.

Storm finished joint second with Montgomerie in the European Open last July, transforming a career that had included a spell working in a cream cake factory.

The 28-year-old, Amateur champion in 1999 and a team-mate of Luke Donald and Paul Casey in the Walker Cup that year, birdied four of his first five holes and added four more in a back nine 32.

“I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but everything seems to be going in the right direction,” he commented. “I’ve put the work in and hopefully the rewards will keep coming.

“When you start playing well it breeds confidence. The course is not playing overly difficult, so it was great to capitalise on the perfect conditions.”

Lima already has one tour title to his name and was joint third with Montgomerie at the Asian Open in Shanghai on Sunday.

Ballesteros, with a best finish of only 33rd in 32 previous tour appearances, lies joint third with fellow Spaniards Miguel Angel Jimenez and Juan Parron, South African Titch Moore and Malaga-based Englishman Miles Tunnicliff.

Ireland's David Higgins was still in the hunt after day one with a two under par 70. However, Damien McGrane (73) and Michael Hoey (74) have some ground to make up tommorrow if they are going to make the cut.