Nacho Elvira set the early clubhouse target when he signed for a 6-under, bogey-free 66 at the Amgen Irish Open.

“I hit the ball pretty decent; probably the best that I’ve played in the last two, three months I would say. But I putted really well and I tried not to put myself in dangerous situations,” said Elvira.

“I was in play off the tee pretty much all day. And then the greens are soft; very difficult to control the spin. But they are very receptive, so I took advantage and I made a lot of putts.

“I hit a good tee shot on 10 then I was always trying to be a little bit away from those pins because they’re short-sided. I managed to have good speed today and made a lot of putts. Then hit a couple of good shots coming in on both par-threes and I made a good birdie on eight and very happy with the day.”

The Spaniard was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen who double bogeyed the par-3 3rd hole and France’s Romain Langasque who made one bogey at the 17th.

Bernd Wiesberger of Austria made one bogey and closed with a 67 for a share of fourth place at 5-under alongside England’s Daniel Brown who made three bogeys, France’s Adrien Saddier who made one and South African Zander Lombard who has made one bogey so far and still has one hole to play.

DP World Tour rankings leader Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is currently T50 at 1-under having made four bogeys.

Play was suspended overnight due to darkness following an earlier delay due to thunder and lightning in the area.

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