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England's McGowan in share of lead at Italian Open

08/05/2008

Englishman Ross McGowan carded a superb first round eight-under-par 64 to take a share of the lead at the Italian Open in Milan.

The 26-year-old is joined at the top of the leaderboard at the Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club by Paraguay's Marco Ruiz.

McGowan, the 2006 English amateur champion, putted eight birdies in his round including four on the trot from holes 13 to 16.

"On the important holes you have to drive well, but I also holed out well from 10 feet and in," said McGowan.

"The next goal is to try to secure my card for next season, then I'll take it from there," added the man from Surrey, who is playing his first full season on the European Tour.

McGowan's fellow countryman Mark Foster leads the chasing pack on seven-under-par and he is joined on the same score by South Africa's Hennie Otto and Scotland's Marc Warren.

Enigmatic American John Daly, who has slipped to 609th in the world, carded a round of 67, which included six birdies in the first 10 holes.

Daly recently had stomach surgery and admitted "this is the healthiest I've been in more than a year - it was brutal with the pain and it's nice to have my swing back".