The BMW International Open leaderboard had a cosmopolitan look befitting the tournament’s name with Argentina’s Rafa Echenique, South African Anton Haig, Singapore’s Mardan Mamat and Australian Peter O’Malley sharing the lead midway through the first round.
The four clubhouse leaders shot matching rounds of six under par 66 on a glorious morning at Golfclub München Eichenried.
O’Malley, who probably racks up more air miles than any other player as he flies home most months to see his children, was the first to post a six under par round.
"I'm doing a lot more travelling now my kids are schooling in Australia," said O'Malley. "I played three weeks, go home for a couple and I'm just trying to manage my time better.
"I don't play much when I have my time off, so I just feel like I want to play when I'm out here, which is always good.
"There's a good run of tournaments now and these are the weeks that you want to play good golf.”
The international flavour to the leaderbaord continued among the chasing players with England's Mark Foster alongside another Argentine player, Daniel Vancsik, and South African Thomas Aiken, after rounds of 67 and in the group one further back were rising German star Martin Kaymer and Swede Alexander Noren.
European Tour Order of Merit leader Miguel Angel Jiménez, sixth in the US Open on Sunday, had a hat-trick of late birdies for a 69, one better than 50 year old Bernhard Langer, who took some of the shine off his day's work with a closing three-putt bogey six.
The BMW International Open is the only German tournament Langer has not won and is well aware age is no longer on his side if he is to correct one of the strangest anomalies in golf.
“A we get older, the clock is ticking,” he said. “There's only a certain window left, so I don't think I'll have a chance winning it at age 60. So it's got to happen pretty soon, if it ever happens.”
