McGrane opens well in Perth

Damien McGrane sits two shots off the lead at the Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia after hitting an impressive six-under-par 66 at the Vines Resort & Country Club in Perth.

Robert-Jan Derksen of the Netherlands shot a career-best round of eight-under-par 64 to snatch the early clubhouse lead, the 35-year-old Dutchman collected eight birdies in a flawless bogey-free round to set a course-record for the new layout at The Vines.

Derksen led Singapore's Mardan Mamat by a single stroke, while Lee Westwood and his fellow Englishman John Bickerton were tied for third with McGrane on six-under.

Derksen's 64 was his best ever round on the European Tour, eclipsing his previous low score of 65, and gave him the perfect platform to launch his bid for a third Tour title after winning the 2003 Dubai Desert Classic and the 2005 Madeira Open.

‘It's a good start and it's always nice to have, it's as simple as that, but there's a lot of golf to be played,’ Derksen told reporters.

Derksen missed the cut at last week's Malaysian Open after suffering heat stroke but said his game was better suited to the conditions in Western Australia.

‘That was very humid...this is still hot but it is a much better heat for me,’ he said.

‘I've been struggling a little bit with the driver lately but this week on this course it's not only the driver, it's a lot of other things as well, there's a lot of position play.’

Westwood made a slow start to his opening round but birdied four of the last seven holes to put himself in contention.

‘I started off hitting a couple of poor shots, a couple of pulls and got away with one but I corrected the fault,’ he said.

‘That's what I've been good at doing the last couple of years, correcting things pretty quickly and I started hitting good shots after that and I played well for the last 12 holes.’

Bickerton made his move midway through his round, making an eagle at the ninth then reeling off four consecutive birdies to pick up six shots in five holes.

Peter Lawrie and Gareth Maybin have also impressed with Lawrie hitting a five-under 67, while Maybin sits a shot further back on four-under.

Gary Murphy was the only Irish man to shoot over-par, the Kilkenny man hitting a one-over-par 73.