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Marco Penge, Gavin Green, Wenyi Ding, Darius van Driel and Ugo Coussaud edged to the top of a congested leaderboard to share the first-round lead at the BMW International Open.
Penge endured a roller-coaster front nine when he mixed four birdies, a dropped shot and double bogey before carding four more gains to set the clubhouse target at five under par.
Malaysia’s Green soon sat alongside the Englishman at the summit following six birdies and solitary bogey before China’s Ding birdied four of his last five holes to join the leading pair.
However, there was more to come. Dutchman Van Driel signed for six birdies and a dropped shot, while France’s Coussaud produced the round of the day in his flawless 67 to make it a five-way tie at the top at Golfclub München Eichenried.
Eighteen players are within two shots of the leading quintet and with overnight rain and thunderstorms forecast ahead of the second round, softer conditions could give hope for even more contenders to go low.
Penge made a fast start by sticking his approaches at the tenth and 11th inside four feet to climb up to two under.
He dropped back with a bogey at the 12th, only to return to two under courtesy of a 48-foot putt at the 14th before adding another birdie at the 16th.
The Hainan Classic winner, one of the longest hitters on the DP World Tour, found water twice at the par-five 18th for double-bogey seven.
However, Penge bounced back with birdies at the first, fourth, sixth and ninth for blemish-free back nine to set the clubhouse lead at five under.
Green went out in a flawless 32, birdieing the 11th, 12th, 14th and 18th before climbing to five under with another gain at the second.
His only bogey came at the fourth when he overshot the green with his approach, but returned to the summit when tapping in from close range at the sixth.
A birdie at the 13th got Ding into the red numbers before carding one of seven eagles at the 18th hole, only to gift the shots back with bogeys at the first and second.
But the Chinese finished with a flourish, birdieing the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth to climb up to five under for a share of the lead.
Van Driel kickstarted his round with birdies at the 11th and 12th before blotting his card with a bogey at the 13th.
He responded with a lengthy gain at the 15th and picked up further shots with tap-ins at the 18th, sixth and ninth for an opening 67.
Coussaud left his charge until late on in his flawless round, signing for birdies at the 16th, 17th, fourth, fifth and ninth thanks to his hot putter.
English trio Nathan Kimsey, Richard Mansell and Jordan Smith were among the chasing pack at four under, alongside Scotland’s Scott Jamieson, Japanese Yuto Katsuragawa, Frenchman David Ravetto and Swede Mikael Lindberg.
The Scottish pair of Richie Ramsay and Grant Forrest led the ten strong group at three under, with Austrian Matthias Schwab, France’s Clément Sordet, Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan, American Davis Bryant, Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia, South African Wilco Nienaber, Spain’s David Puig and Dutchman Joost Luiten.
-DP World Tour