Northern Ireland's Gareth Maybin, so close to winning just the seventh European Tour event of his career in December, was in a class of his own when the BMW Italian Open began in Turin on Thursday.

A course record 64, seven under par, gave the 28-year-old from Belfast a three-stroke lead over Scot Richie Ramsay, French pair Raphael Jacquelin and Christian Cevaer and England's Marcus Higley, while American John Daly would have been joint second as well but for two closing bogeys.

Maybin had an eight-foot putt to take the South African Open five months ago, but missed it and then lost a play-off to Richard Sterne.

"I was very disappointed at the time - any time you're beaten in a play-off you're not going to be too chuffed," said the Challenge Tour graduate.

"But I went home for Christmas and reflected on it. I looked at the names below me and a lot of them were highly-ranked."

Among those Maybin finished ahead of were compatriot Rory McIlroy, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman.

After Ramsay had set the clubhouse target with a 67 - like Daly, he bogeyed the 17th and 18th - Maybin was still two behind when he turned in 34.

But he then followed birdies on the 10th and 12th with a 116-yard wedge into the cup for an eagle two at the next and another birdie came on the short 15th.

Even when he bogeyed two holes later he came straight back, hitting a five-iron to six feet on the demanding 507-yard par four last.

Maybin played the Royal Park lay-out on the Challenge Tour last season, but that was hardly a confidence-booster for him on his return. He missed the cut then.

Daly was annoyed at his finish, but after finishing last week's Spanish Open with a 69 the 43-year-old, banned by the US Tour for six months in November after being thrown in jail to sober up, drew positives from starting his second event back with the same score.

"I love the way I'm hitting the ball - I had a lot of opportunities out there," he said.

One bad swing put him in a bunker on the 17th, though, and he got a flyer from the rough at the last.

Ramsay shot to fame three years ago when he became the first Scot since 1898 to win the US Amateur crown.

As a result of that he partnered Phil Mickelson in The Masters, Tiger Woods at the US Open and Padraig Harrington in the opening two rounds of The Open at Carnoustie - the week that changed the Dubliner's life, of course.

"There's a common factor in all of them - they're lethal with the short game," said the 25-year-old from Aberdeen.

"They're not the straightest drivers in the world, but they know how to get the ball in the hole.

"Some of Mickelson's shots were unbelievable and I was about to start applauding until I realised I was playing with him.

"It's probably a bitter-sweet feeling," he added.

"The way I played I felt I could have opened a gap, but my short game is a weakness."

He bogeyed the last two after going just over the green both times.

Compatriot Colin Montgomerie is seeking improvement in all areas at the moment.

While a 72 was nine strokes better than his second round last week it contained trips to the water for double bogeys both at the 197-yard 12th and 609-yard fifth.

The Ryder Cup captain did play the last four in two under, but asked if he had at least enjoyed that stretch he answered: "I'm not enjoying any holes right now.

"It's no use and things have to got to change rapidly - I'm going down in the rankings (he is now 171st in the world) and it's terrible. Terrible.

"I've got to play more to get myself out of this rut. There's no excuse for scoring over par here."

Darren Clarke fared even worse with a 74 - he bogeyed the first four holes - and former Open champion Paul Lawrie needed two more than that to get round. Like Spanish Open winner Thomas Levet's 73 there was not a birdie on his card.

Higley, from Yeovil, has made no fewer than 12 trips to the Tour qualifying school - and has failed every time. But he has twice come through the Challenge Tour and two years ago was joint runner-up in the St Omer Open.

Collated first round scores in the European Tour BMW Italian Open, Royal Park I Roveri, Torino, Italy

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71)

64 Gareth Maybin

67 Christian Cevaer (Fra), Richie Ramsay, Marcus Higley, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra)

68 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Garry Houston, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa), Ake Nilsson (Rsa), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Brett Rumford (Aus), Anthony Wall, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Matteo Delpodio (Ita)

69 John Mellor, Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Branden Grace (Rsa), Marc Cayeux (Zim), John Daly (USA), Alexandre Rocha (Bra), Gary Lockerbie, Gregory Molteni (Ita), David Drysdale, Inder Van Weerelt (Ned), Gregory Havret (Fra)

70 Andrew Tampion (Aus), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice), Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha), Simon Khan, Gary Murphy, Gareth Paddison (Nzl), Stephen Dodd, Julien Clement (Swi), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Wade Ormsby (Aus), Michael Curtain (Aus), Mark Foster, Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Bradley Dredge

71 Jonathan Caldwell, Chris Gane, Roope Kakko (Fin), Hennie Otto (Rsa), Michael Mcgeady, Alan McLean, Metteo Manassero (Ita), David Lynn, Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Scott Barr (Aus), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Phillip Archer

72 Simon Robinson, Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Marco Soffietti (Ita), Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Gary Orr, Niccolo Quintarelli (Ita), Robert Dinwiddie, Steven O'Hara, Wil Besseling (Ned), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Robert Rock, Lee Slattery, John E Morgan, Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Miles Tunnicliff, Richard Bland, Colin Montgomerie, Gary Clark, Mark f Haastrup (Den), Stephen Gallacher, Taco Remkes (Ned), Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Barry Lane

73 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Anders Hansen (Den), Benn Barham, Sion Bebb, Klas Eriksson (Swe), Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa), Simon Wakefield, Oliver Fisher, Anthony Kang (USA), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Matthew Millar (Aus), Alastair Forsyth, Pablo Martin (Spa), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Christian Nilsson (Swe), Jan Are Larsen (Nor), Richard McEvoy, Stuart Manley, Seve Benson, Paul Broadhurst, Sam Walker, Thomas Levet (Fra)

74 Stuart Davis, Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Soren Hansen (Den), Mathias Gronberg (Swe), Darren Clarke, Kane Webber (USA), Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Costantino Rocca (Ita), Marc Warren, Marco Bernardini (Ita), Alan Wagner (USA), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Peter O'Malley (Aus)

75 Leonardo Motta (Ita), Mattia Miloro (Ita), Andrew Coltart, Andrea Signor (Ita), Andrea Zanini (Ita), Kenneth Ferrie, Peter Hedblom (Swe), Anthony Snobeck (Fra), Alexander Noren (Swe), Antti Ahokas (Fin), Niclas Fasth (Swe)

76 Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Rafael Echenique (Arg), David Frost (Rsa), Callum Macaulay, Iain Pyman, Sven Struver (Ger), Andrea Zani (Ita), Paul Lawrie, Nino Bertasio (Ita),Christopher Doak

77 Martin Wiegele (Aut), Federico Colombo (Ita), Tino Schuster (Ger), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Markus Brier (Aut), Nunzio Lombardi (Ita), Sam Little

78 Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Peter Baker, Santiago Luna (Spa), Michele Reale (Ita)

79 Raphael De Sousa (Swi), Peter Whiteford, Emmanuele Lattanzi (Ita)