Todd Clements posted what he described as one of the best rounds of his career so far to soar into the first round lead at the Amgen Irish Open.

The Englishman carded an opening five under par round of 66 to sit atop the leaderboard at Royal County Down, one stroke clear of Finland’s Sami Välimäki and Spaniard Alejandro del Rey, with four-time Major Champion Rory McIlroy a stroke further back in a tie for fourth.

The former MENA Tour player, Clements, who won his maiden DP World Tour title at the D+D REAL Czech Masters last year made a blistering start in Northern Ireland, birdieing two of the first three after starting from the tenth before picking up two further shots with an eagle at the par five 18th.

Clements made the turn and birdied the tricky par five first, but Royal County Down bit back as he dropped shots at the second and fourth to drop into the bunched leaderboard in the third event of the Back 9 on the DP World Tour’s Global Schedule.

Not to be deterred, however, Clements fought back and finished with aplomb, with back-to-back birdies at the eighth and ninth earning him the advantage after the opening round on the spectacular links.

“I said that to my caddie walking off, “That’s one of the best rounds I’ve played in my life so far.” It’s a hard course and yeah, delighted how it panned out,” said the 2022 Challenge Tour graduate.

“For me, I drove it great. I hit a lot of good quality shots, and just kind of hit my ball in the right spaces. My caddie was great today, and you know, he had the course mapped out great and it worked well.

“This course is as hard as it gets. Take it day-by-day; cliché. But tomorrow it’s going to be cold; it’s going to be windy and another gruelling test. Sad as it is to say, I’m probably looking forward to it.”

County Down native McIlroy gave the home crowds something to cheer with an impressive birdie-birdie-birdie finish to join the five-strong pack in a tie for fourth place, along with English duo Marcus Armitage and Will Enefer, South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence and Italian Filippo Celli.

The fundraising efforts for Make-A-Wish Ireland got off to a strong start on the opening day, with 73 birdies or better on the first hole resulting in £29,200 being donated by Amgen and the DP World Tour.

Amgen ambassadors Pádraig Harrington, Shane Lowry and Séamus Power carded six birdies and eagles between them, raising £2,400 after pledging to donate £400 for each time they take a shot from the course this week.

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