Englishman Ryan Evans took the clubhouse lead late on day one of the D+D Real Czech Masters in Prague's Albatross Golf Resort with a six-under-par 66 while defending champion Thomas Pieters and Peter Hanson shot rounds of five-under-par 67 on Thursday (18th August).

Belgian Thomas Pieters started strong on day one of the D+D Real Czech Masters on Thursday as he hopes to impress Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke with only two tournaments left in the qualifying period.

Pieters put together an excellent round with a birdie at the first hole, then another on hole five.

He managed to finish with five-under which put him at 67, sharing second with Peter Hanson.

The Swede hadn't played golf for five weeks but you wouldn't have known it seeing the way he played today.

He recorded five birdies during his round.

Lee Westwood, also looking for a captain's pick for the Ryder Cup, birdied the first on the way home and hit two-under-par for a round of seventy.

Matt Fitzpatrick, another looking to secure his place in Clarke's team, produced a very tidy performance and didn't drop any shots.

He birdied the ninth hole and the 18th to finish with a round of 69, three under par.

Robert Karlsson made a flying start, with birdies in the first four holes and another on the seventh, but dropped a shot on the way home to be four under.

Ryan Evans led the field on day one and shot seven birdies to take the clubhouse lead at a six-under-par 66.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Ryan Evans (on day one):

"I didn't really think about trying to lead the tournament, I just thought about putting a good score together today. I've been playing well the last few weeks. The good thing I can take from today is that I putted really well. Had a little catch up with one of my coaches on Tuesday on the putting green and seemed to role the ball really nice today so you know that whole nice 20 footers earlier on sort of settled me down and I played well for the rest of the day from there."