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Valencia - Former British Open champion Paul Lawrie and Ricardo Gonzalez shared the lead on seven under 64 after the first round of the Castello Masters here on Thursday.
This duo are being tracked by England's David Horsey, who is lying one shot after the opening skirmishes at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo.
Argentina's big-hitting Gonzalez, who turns 41 on Sunday, is aiming for his fifth European title and he returned to form with a bogey-free round featuring seven birdies.
Lawrie, who has already turned 41, is without a win since 2002 but put himself in contention to end that run by picking up seven shots in nine holes from the ninth.
The Scot is placed 68th on The Race To Dubai and is gunning for a good finish here which could push him into the top 60 in the time for the Dubai World Championship next mnoth.
Lawrie put his sparkling opening round down to his putting.
"I putted lovely. I played solidly, I didn't play poorly, but I rolled the ball extremely well," he told the European Tour's official website.
"The greens this week are some of the best we've seen all year and when the greens are fast and they roll well I tend to hole putts so I did that today.
"When the greens are fast I normally hole my share so I'm hoping that continues."
Among a group breathing down Horsey's neck tied in a share of fourth one shot behind on five under are Jean-Baptiste Gonnet of France, Scot Gary Orr, BMW PGA Championship winner Simon Khan and his English compatriot Richard Finch.
Local favourite Sergio Garcia carded a respectable level par round on his home course on his return to the European Tour.
Fellow Spaniard Jose Maria Olzabel however has work to do to make the cut on Friday after a two over par 73.
First round scores (GBR & IRL unless stated - par 71):
64 - Ricardo Gonzalez (ARG), Paul Lawrie
65 - David Horsey
66 - Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA), Richard Finch, Simon Khan, Garry Orr
67 - Robert Jan Derksen (NED), Jeppe Huldahl (DEN), Gregory Bourdy (FRA), Michael Hoey, David Drysdale, Richard Bland
68 - Gary Boyd, Carl Suneson (ESP), Alexander Noren (SWE), Joost Luiten (NED), Matteo Manassero (ITA), Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (ESP), Christian Nilsson (SWE), Gareth Maybin
Selected
69 - Richard Green (AUS), Todd Hamilton (USA), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)
70 - James Kingston (RSA), Mark Brown (NZL)
71 - Thomas Aiken (RSA), Sergio Garcia (ESP)
72 - James Kingston (RSA), Hennie Otto (RSA), George Coetzee (RSA)
73 - Jose-Maria Olazabal (ESP), Scott Strange (AUS)
74 - Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (IND), Paul McGinley, Thongchai Jaidee (THA)
76 - Anthony Kang (USA), Michael Campbell (NZL)
78 - Shiv Kapur (IND)
