England's Matt Wallace continued the fine form which almost earned him a Ryder Cup debut as Germany's Maximilian Kieffer claimed the first-round lead at the Omega European Masters.
For Paul Dunne it was a disappointing start and finish to his opening round of 71 which leaves him one over par and seven off the lead.
The Irishman bogeyed three of his opening five holes in what was a nightmare start but steadied the ship with birdies at the seventh, eighth and 10th to get back to level par.
However, two more birdies at the 14th and 15th were nullified by three more bogeys on the back nine, two of which came in the last three holes.
Wallace’s win in the final Ryder Cup qualifying event in Denmark — his third of the year — had many observers calling for European captain Thomas Bjorn to hand the 28-year-old one of his four wild cards.
Bjorn instead opted for the experience of Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson for the clash with the United States at Le Golf National at the end of the month, but Wallace once more highlighted his credentials with a two-under-par 68 at Crans-sur-Sierre.
Wallace told Sky Sports after carding an eagle, three birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey: “Obviously I’m disappointed because that was my goal and my dream. I thought I showed enough on the Sunday in front of him to get a pick.”
Kieffer recorded seven birdies against a single dropped shot on the 12th to sign for a six-under 64 in the Swiss mountain resort.
The 28-year-old is searching for a maiden European Tour title in his 162nd event, and holds a one-shot advantage over England's Andy Sullivan, Dane Soren Kjeldsen, France's Julien Guerrier and Japan's Hideto Tanihara.
Belgian Thomas Pieters and England's Matt Fitzpatrick — playing with Wallace after similarly being snubbed by Bjorn on Wednesday — went round in 67 and 69 respectively.
Collated first round scores in the European Tour Omega European Masters, Crans-sur-Sierre GC, Crans Montana, Switzerland (Britain & Irl unless stated, par 70):
64 Maximilian Kieffer (Ger)
65 Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Andy Sullivan, Julien Guerrier (Fra), Hideto Tanihara (Jpn)
66 David Drysdale, Justin Walters (Rsa), Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa), Nacho Elvira (Spa)
67 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Ryan Fox (Nzl), Thomas Detry (Bel), Alexander Levy (Fra), Thomas Pieters (Bel), Aaron Rai, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa)
68 Andrew Johnston, Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Matt Wallace, Danny Willett, Josh Geary (Nzl), Phachara Khongwatmai (Tha), Laurie Canter, Robert Rock, David Lipsky (USA), Lee Westwood, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den), Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Chris Wood, Ashley Chesters, Benjamin Rusch (a) (Swi), Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Doug Ghim (USA), Lee Slattery, Stephen Gallacher
69 Alexander Bjork (Swe), Joakim Lagergren (Swe), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Mikko Korhonen (Fin), Oliver Fisher, Scott Jamieson, Jason Scrivener (Aus), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Dean Burmester (Rsa), Gavin Green (Mal), Gregory Havret (Fra), S.S.P Chawrasia (Ind), Christofer Blomstrand (Swe), Haydn Porteous (Rsa), Daniel Brooks, Callum Shinkwin, George Coetzee (Rsa), Matthew Southgate, Romain Wattel (Fra), Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry), Jamie Donaldson, Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Matthew Fitzpatrick, Richard Sterne (Rsa)
70 Ricardo Gouveia (Por), Marcus Kinhult (Swe), Ross Fisher, Ashun Wu (Chn), Kim Koivu (Fin), Scott Hend (Aus), Jeff Winther (Den), Wade Ormsby (Aus), Austin Connelly (Can), Benjamin Hebert (Fra), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Richard Bland, David Horsey, Matthew Baldwin, James Morrison, Brett Rumford (Aus), Andrea Pavan (Ita), Mark Foster, Jens Dantorp (Swe), Nino Bertasio (Ita)
71 Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa), Bradley Neil, Henric Sturehed (Swe), Chase Koepka (USA), Marc Warren, Paul Dunne, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Adrian Otaegui (Spa), Bradley Dredge, Soomin Lee (Kor), David Howell, Paul Waring, Matthew Nixon, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Matthias Schwab (Aut), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Jeunghun Wang (Kor), Oliver Farr
72 Richie Ramsay, Daniel Im (USA), Richard McEvoy, Scott Fernandez (Spa), Jonas Blixt (Swe), Nicola Gerhardsen (a) (Swi), Shubhankar Sharma (Ind), Haotong Li (Chn), Adam Bland (Aus), Marcel Siem (Ger), Sam Horsfield, Andres Romero (Arg), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Pedro Oriol (Spa), Lorenzo Gagli (Ita)
73 Lasse Jensen (Den), Sebastian Heisele (Ger), Clement Sordet (Fra), Andrew Dodt (Aus), Gerold Folk (a) (Aut), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Chris Hanson, Luca Galliano (Swi), Sam Brazel (Aus)
74 Loris Schupbach (a) (Swi), Jorge Campillo (Spa), Jonathan Thomson, Mathias Gronberg (Swe), Renato Paratore (Ita), Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa), Adrien Saddier (Fra), Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin), Connor Syme, Charlie Ford, Robert Foley (a) (Swi), Zander Lombard (Rsa), Raphael Ger Sousa (Swi), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Ryan Evans, Mathias Eggenberger (a) (Swi)
75 Rak hyun Cho (Kor), Jin-ho Choi (Kor), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)
77 John Daly (USA), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Carlos Pigem (Spa), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra)
78 Steven Brown, Marc Dobias (Swi), Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn)
79 Jason Norris (Aus)
80 Cedric Gugler (a) (Swi)
