Mallow's James Sugrue tees off professional career in Sweden

James Sugrue of Ireland plays his tee shot on the 11th hole during Day One of the Range Servant Challenge by Hinton Golf at Hinton Golf Club. Picture: Luke Walker/Getty Images

Ireland’s James Sugrue is five shots off the lead after the first round of the Range Servant Challenge by Hinton Golf in Malmo, Sweden.

Starting his round off the 10th tee, the Mallow golfer and former British Amateur champion recorded six birdies in his opening round, though he will have been frustrated by four bogeys, including bogeys on 17 and 18, as he carded a 70, which left him two under.

Ranked 1,855th in the world, Sugrue will tee off his second round at 12.50pm Irish time Friday, from the first, alongside Germany’s Frederik Schott and Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard Moller.

Borja Virto posted his lowest competitive round in almost three years as he grabbed a share of a five-way tie for the lead after the first day at Hinton Golf Club. The Spaniard carded a seven under par round of 65 to join Sweden’s Christofer Blomstrand, Poland’s Mateusz Gradecki, Scotland’s Craig Howie and Norway’s Espen Kofstad at the top of the leaderboard after bad weather caused a three-hour delay to proceedings on the first day at Hinton Golf Club.

They lead by one from Denmark’s Marcus Helligkilde, Swede Mikael Lindberg, and Germany’s Hurly Long, who are all tied sixth on six under par alongside Austria’s Timon Baltl, who will be required to finish his first round on Friday after day one was suspended due to darkness.

Spain’s Virto, a two-time European Challenge Tour winner, holed a lengthy birdie putt on the final hole to move to seven under par and take some positive momentum into tomorrow’s second round.

“The putt on 18 is a big boost to start the round tomorrow, because I was struggling a bit on the last five holes, just grinding to try and finish the score. It was a nice bonus.”

The first round of the Range Servant Challenge by Hinton Golf was suspended due to darkness and will resume at 7am Irish time Friday.