WARE, England — Cormac Sharvin of Northern Ireland shot a course-record 8-under 63 Thursday to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the English Championship.
Sharvin played in the final group and made three straight birdies from the 14th to move past a group of six players in the clubhouse at 7 under.
That included English veteran David Howell, who made his only bogey on 17 to miss out on a share of the lead.
Sharvin made 10 birdies to go with two bogeys.
“It was a nice round, played really well, didn’t do too much wrong,” Sharvin said. “Put it on the fairway, hit a lot of good shots and holed a few putts as well.”
The 45-year-old Howell hasn’t won a European Tour event since 2013, in part because he’s often struggled in the opening round.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve put a good first round on the board to be honest,” Howell said. “It’s what I’ve been crying out for. … Today it happened so it was lovely. Nice to see my name somewhere near the top of the leaderboard, if not the top.”
The Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel and Country Club is hosting a European Tour event for the first time in 21 years but offered plenty of scoring opportunities as 107 of the 132 players broke par.