There was a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard early on in the first round of the Pacific Rubiales Colombia Classic after Christophe Brazillier had relinquished an outright lead when a bogey on the first hole, his tenth, knocked him back to one under through 12.
The Frenchman was joined by Philip Archer, Andrea Perrino and in-form Paul Dwyer on one under at Country Club de Barranquilla, outside the city of Barranquilla on Colombia's Caribbean coast.
Brazillier had a superb front nine in testing conditions as he didn’t drop a single shot and birdied the 11th and 17th holes, having teed off on the tenth.
Archer, meanwhile, carded three birdies on the front nine, at the third, seventh and eighth, but a double-bogey on the fifth hole left the two-time Challenge Tour winner one under through nine.
Perrino was one under through six as he went birdie-bogey-birdie from the second hole while Dwyer, who finished tied third at the season-opening Gujarat Kensville Challenge in India, was one under through three thanks to a birdie on the par five 11th hole, his second.
Three-time European Tour winner Nick Dougherty was amongst the players in tied fifth on level par as he birdied the 11th and 17th holes but dropped a shot each at the par three 13th and par four 15th, while the 2012 Challenge Tour season’s first winner Max Kieffer was one over through nine after three birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey meant he reached the turn in 37.
