Callum Shinkwin shot one of his lowest European Tour rounds of this year to be usefully placed after the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

The Bushey golfer goes into day two at Portstewart Golf Club in a share of 23rd place after a four-under-par first round of 68 left him four shots behind joint leaders Daniel Im and Benjamin Hebert.

On a day of favourable scoring conditions, the Moor Park Golf Club professional's round was in fine shape after making birdies on four of his first five holes to go ‘out’ in a four-under-par 32, having teed off from the tenth.

The ‘back’ nine was more of a mixed bag for the 24-year-old, who started with a double bogey at the first and also dropped shots at the fifth and ninth, but these were offset by birdies at holes two, four, six and seven.

Shinkwin’s Moor Park club-mate Matt Wallace is also in minus numbers going into the second round, but he currently lies the wrong side of the projected cut after an opening round of 71.

The 27-year-old also started his campaign from the tenth, but was soon playing catch up after a bogey-bogey start.

However, he steadied the ship with back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15, only to let one of those slip on the 18th.

But the Pinner resident had a steady ‘back’ nine and capitalised on the two par fives, at holes four and seven, to finish his opening 18 holes in a share of 85th place on one-under.