it was a frustrating day for the Irish in the Betfred British Masters at the Belfry.

Paul Dunne dropped three shots on his last two holes for a four-over 76 as Jonathan Caldwell shot 77 and Cormac Sharvin 78.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and Dane Thorbjorn Olesen posted 66s to lead by a shot from Germany's Hurly Long, Scot Richie Ramsay and Ashun Wu of China.

Olesen, who represented Team Europe at the 2018 Ryder Cup, set the clubhouse target after a blemish-free round on the Brabazon Course with Fox, who won his second DP World Tour title at February’s Ras al Khaimah Classic, matching him late in the day to join him at the top of the leaderboard

The pair sit one stroke ahead of Germany’s Hurly Long, Scotsman Richie Ramsay and Ashun Wu of China, who each carded five under par rounds of 67.

Rasmus Højgaard, who won the ISPS HANDA UK Championship at The Belfry in 2020, is one stroke further back alongside Italy’s Edoardo Molinari and South African duo Brandon Stone and Justin Walters.

Tournament host Danny Willett carded a one over par round of 73, but raised £4,000 for the tournament’s Official Charity Prostate Cancer UK. Title sponsors Betfred have pledged to donate £1,000 for every birdie and £2,000 for every eagle made by the 2016 Masters Tournament champion, with Willett carding four birdies on day one.

Ryan Fox: “I hit it really solid, maybe one tee shot on the second which looked a little dicey but hit a lot of wedge shots close and took advantage on a couple of the hard holes on 12 and 18. Holed a couple of 40-footers which is always nice to keep the round going and I did everything pretty well which is nice and had a good group to play with with Thomas and Jack, and we had a few laughs out there, especially on 10. It was just a nice day.

“It's a fun golf course to play. I grew up on this kind of grass as well. So it fits quite nicely in my head. Kind of know what it's going to do and how it's going to react and just went out and tried to hit a couple of shots and did that well.”

Thorbjørn Olesen: “Obviously a good start with birdie on ten, my first hole. Thought I played really well. Thought I've had some good rounds this year and just haven't finished it off. It was really nice to get that up-and-down on the last and have that momentum and not make a bogey today. I was really pleased with that.

“We've had a lot of rain, so it's soft you and don't get much roll on the fairways. But obviously the key here is hitting the fairways and I missed that on 9 and had to chip out and get up-and-down for it. There's a few tee shots out there that's quite tricky where you really have to hit good shots.”

Hurly Long: “It's been a good start (to the year). I feel very comfortable right now. I think one thing that was nice for me was having a Challenge Tour winner's category allowed me to play out here and get acclimated. Once I got my rookie season underway, I was settled in halfway already.”

Richie Ramsay: "It was really good. I worked on my mind the last few days. I think talking out there really helped. There was quite a few people out there today. It really felt like a proper tournament. It's obviously quite a big golf course, and good strength of field

"It felt like I needed to turn it on and do something today, and it was really pleasing to go do that and have a good mindset which is the most important thing. I need to match my mindset with what my is goal is. I'm sometimes thinking about other things, and today I did that a couple times, checked myself and that was the difference I think.

"You want to play well because there's lots of people turning out. It's a nice place. Fortunately the weather was good for us today. And the fact that you enjoy it makes your job a lot easier and when you enjoy something, you have passion for it and you want to do well in it."

Ashun Wu: “I played very solid and my game is good. My putting is back, because I have a little bit of problem from last week. But I find some good feeling and come back. My putting is amazing today. So yeah, five birdies, no bogeys, happy.”

Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett (Par 72)

Detailed scores

66 R Fox (Nzl), T Olesen (Den),

67 R Ramsay (Sco), H Long (Ger), A Wu (Chn),

68 J Walters (RSA), E Molinari (Ita), B Stone (RSA), R Hojgaard (Den),

69 R Jacquelin (Fra), D Huizing (Ned), J Donaldson (Wal), J Smith (Eng), M Lorenzo-vera (Fra), F Laporta (Ita), A Bjork (Swe),

70 C Hanna (USA), T Bjorn (Den), M Korhonen (Fin), J Scrivener (Aus), S Soderberg (Swe), P Waring (Eng), J Winther (Den), F Zanotti (Par), A Arnaus (Esp), J Harding (RSA), R McGowan (Eng), M Kinhult (Swe),

71 B Dredge (Wal), Y Paul (Ger), H Leon (Chi), G Green (Mas), J Brun (Fra), S Horsfield (Eng), M Armitage (Eng), R Roussel (Fra), E Kofstad (Nor), R Mansell (Eng), J Luiten (Ned), J Morrison (Eng), J Catlin (USA), G Coetzee (RSA), A Otaegui (Esp), L Canter (Eng), V Perez (Fra), B Schmidt (Eng), D Van Tonder (RSA), M Southgate (Eng), B Hebert (Fra),

72 J Hansen (Den), S Brown (Eng), J Singh Brar (Eng), Z Lombard (RSA), N Hojgaard (Den), J Campillo (Esp), J Veerman (USA), D Horsey (Eng), S Heisele (Ger), N Moller (Den), G Porteous (Eng), O Fisher (Eng), L Gagli (Ita), S Tarrio (Esp), F Lacroix (Fra), A Meronk (Pol), L Westwood (Eng), R McEvoy (Eng), T Lawrence (RSA), N Von Dellingshausen (Ger), G Migliozzi (Ita), M Jordan (Eng), G Fdez-Castaño (Esp), D Coupland (Eng), C Wood (Eng), S Crocker (USA),

73 E Pepperell (Eng), S Sharma (Ind), W Besseling (Ned), J Janewattananond (Tha), R Bland (Eng), D Willett (Eng), D Law (Sco), M Antcliff (Aus), J Ritchie (RSA), R Sterne (RSA), M Kawamura (Jpn), W Ormsby (Aus), A Saddier (Fra), N Elvira (Esp), L Bjerregaard (Den), H Du Plessis (RSA), S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp), A Keogh (Eng), C Shinkwin (Eng),

74 R Gouveia (Por), Z Murray (Aus), H Li (Chn), T Detry (Bel), R Cabrera Bello (Esp), S Chawrasia (Ind), M Siem (Ger), N Bertasio (Ita), D Van Driel (Ned), O Wilson (Eng), J Stalter (Fra), C Howie (Sco), L Nemecz (Aut), D Gavins (Eng), R Karlberg (Swe), R Macintyre (Sco), G Hutcheon (Sco), A Sullivan (Eng), J Senior (Eng), N Lemke (Swe), C Syme (Sco),

75 G Forrest (Sco), O Bekker (RSA), R Rock (Eng), T Pulkkanen (Fin), J Guerrier (Fra), R Santos (Por), P Angles (Esp), D Drysdale (Sco), D Burmester (RSA), K Samooja (Fin), E Ferguson (Sco), D Whitnell (Eng), M Pavon (Fra), H Smith (Am) (Eng), J Lagergren (Swe),

76 T Lewis (Eng), R Langasque (Fra), D Fichardt (RSA), R Fisher (Eng), Paul Dunne (Irl), R Paratore (Ita),

77 M Schneider (Ger), G Storm (Eng), S Jamieson (Sco), H Porteous (RSA), A Rozner (Fra), S Gallacher (Sco), A Wilson (Eng), Jonathan Caldwell (Nir),

78 A Quiros (Esp), B Stow (Eng), A Cañizares (Esp), A Pavan (Ita), M Warren (Sco),

79 S Valimaki (Fin), M Schmid (Ger),

80 C Paisley (Eng), A Chesters (Eng),

81 Cormac Sharvin (Nir), A Cockerill (Can),

83 D Howell (Eng)