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Copenhagen - Former Ryder Cup winner Thomas Bjorn shared the first round lead at the Danish Open on Thursday with Chile's Felipe Aguilar and Welshman Bradley Dredge on five under par.
Home favourite Bjorn, who was part of the Ryder Cup winning teams in 1997 and 2002, as well as finishing runner-up at the British Open in 2000 and 2003, enjoyed five birdies during a bogey free round as he delighted the home fans at the Himmerland Golf and Spa resort in Aalborg,
"It was a tricky day today(Thursday) with the wind, especially on my back nine. But I drove the ball really well and that gives you opportunities on this golf course," said Denmark's Bjorn, who is on the verge of sealing a place in Paul McGinley's European Ryder Cup team to play the USA at Gleneagles in September.
"So I'm happy with the day, happy with the start and it was pretty solid all the way round."
Aguilar, who is chasing a third European victory but has slipped to 137 in the world, rode a run of three straight birdies on the back nine to also card a score of 66 on the par-71 layout.
Dredge, 41, a two-time European Tour winner, overcame a second hole bogey to rattle home five birdies on his last seven holes to share the lead with Bjorn and Aguilar after 18 holes.
Home player Thorbjorn Olesen was in second place on 69, three shots off the pace.
Leading and selected Danish Open first round scores on Thursday (GBR/IRL unless stated; par 71):
66 - Felipe Aguilar (CHI), Thomas Bjorn (DEN), Bradley Dredge
69 - Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN)
70 - Kim Sihwan (KOR), Roope Kakko (FIN), Daniel Gaunt (AUS), Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (IND), Peter Lawrie, Andrew Marshall, Phillip Archer, Andreas Harto (DEN)
71 - Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Richard Bland, Patrik Sjoland (SWE), Garrick Porteous, Mikko Korhonen (Fin), Morten Orum Madsen (Den), Simon Wakefield, Scott Jamieson, Johan Carlsson (SWE), Lee Slattery, Emiliano Grillo (ARG), David Drysdale, Marc Warren, Andrea Pavan (ITA), Wade Ormsby (AUS)
72 - Mikael Lundberg (SWE), Lasse Jensen (DEN), Daniel Im (USA), Steven Jeppesen (SWE), Berry Henson (USA), Edouard Dubois (FRA), Tom Lewis, Gary Stal (FRA), Kenneth Ferrie, Andy Sullivan, Andrew McArthur, Chris Hanson, David Lipsky (USA), Christopher Doak
73 - Damien McGrane, Brandon Stone (RSA), Jorge Campillo (ESP), Robert Rock, Victor Riu (FRA), Eddie Pepperell, Michael Hoey, Craig Lee, Jeev Milkha Singh (IND), Shiv Kapur (IND), Matthew Nixon, Rasmus Hjelm (DEN), Stuart Manley, Rikard Karlberg (SWE), Sam Walker, Romain Wattel (FRA), Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND), Mark Foster, Thomas Levet (FRA)
Selected:
74 - Brett Rumford (AUS)
75 - Merrick Bremner (RSA)
76 - James Kingston (RSA), Keith Horne (RSA), Richard Green (AUS)
78 - Haydn Porteous (RSA)
