Justin Walters carded a bogey-free eight-under-par 63 on Thursday in the first round of the DP World Tour’s Made in HimmerLand tournament in Denmark to be in a share of second place.

Walters picked up five birdies on the front nine, and then made another on the 14th, before closing with consecutive gains on the 17th and 18th. That put him one stroke behind the leader, Ross McGowan. McGowan had an eagle and seven birdies in his round, and led from Walters, the in-form Scotsman Ewen Ferguson, Matthew Southgate of England and the Danish duo of Marcus Helligkilde and Rasmus Hojgaard.

The Englishman McGowan, a Sunshine Tour winner from 2015 in the Mopani Redpath Zambia Open, started his round at the 10th, got off to a flyer with an opening birdie and five more followed before he leapt into pole position by chipping in for eagle at the par-five eighth and tapping in for birdie on his final hole.

Another South African who started fast was Zander Lombard, who had a double-bogey and a bogey on his card. He also made nine birdies in his six-under-par opening round, and he was in a share of 13th with five other players.

Justin Harding signed for a four-under-par 67, and was in a share of 33rd, while Wilco Nienaber opened with a three-under-par 68 and a share of 47th. Also on three-under was Richard Sterne, who made a double-bogey on his last hole to slip from a bogey-free five-under up to that point.

Last week’s winner in Switzerland, Thriston Lawrence, started with four bogeys and no drops on his front nine, but made three bogeys and just a single birdie on his homeward nine for a two-under total for 18 holes and a share of 68th.

George Coetzee and Thomas Aiken were on one-under and Darren Fichardt was on level-par 71. Tristen Strydom and Haydn Porteous were two-over, while Oliver Bekker and Brandon Stone were on five-over. Daniel van Tonder had a horrible round, with an eagle and three birdies, but a quintuple-bogey nine on the second, two double-bogeys and six bogeys saw him sign for a 10-over 81.