Callum Shinkwin currently lies in a five-way tie for second place at the Portugal Masters after making an impressive start to the European Tour event at Vilamoura.

The Moor Park professional is alongside fellow Englishmen Matthew Baldwin and Eddie Pepperell, America’s David Lipsky and Mikko Korhonen of Finland on seven-under-par on what is historically a low-scoring course. Scotland’s Marc Warren leads the field at the time of writing on eight-under.

The 23-year-old, who was a very late entrant into last week’s British Masters at The Grove after Thomas Bjorn withdrew, laid the foundations for his strong start on the ‘front’ nine after teeing off on the tenth.

Following a birdie three on his opening hole, the Bushey professional double bogeyed the 11th to drop to one-over. But he responded to this setback in superb fashion with birdies on five of the next six holes to reach the turn in a four-under-par score of 32.

Five under-par scores in six holes became six in eight on the first and two more birdies on the fourth and sixth followed to leave Shinkwin in fine shape heading into tomorrow’s second round.

The former English Amateur Champion will be hoping for a high finish to boost his hopes of making the season-ending World Tour Championship. He currently sits in 77th place in the Race to Dubai standings.