Craig Hinton and Gabriel Canizares shot matching seven-under 65s on Monday to share the lead after the first round of the MENA Golf Tour’s American Express Dirab Golf Championship in Saudi Arabia.

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Playing in the day’s second group, England’s Hinton took full advantage of decent morning conditions at Dirab Golf and Country Club, reeling off one eagle and six birdies against a lone bogey, while Spain’s Canizares went bogey-free as the duo moved three shots clear of rising English amateur James Allan. Prince Khaled Saud Al Faisal spearheaded the Saudi challenge with a two-over 74 after making the turn at two-under par. 

He was then three-under par after the 13th, but a triple bogey on the par-5 15th, which was followed by a double bogey on the 17th, prevented him from finishing the opening round in red figures.

Morocco’s Ayoub Lguirati fired a three-under 69, highlighted by three birdies in a row from the 14th, to hit the front in the MENA Division for the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation Award.

It was Hinton and Canizares who both had been strong off the tee and were just as good with the putter.

“It’s one of my best rounds on the MENA Tour. This is one course where wind doesn’t come into play and that helped,” said Hinton, who played on the Asian Tour in 2014.

“I picked up three birdies on the front nine which kind of built up the momentum and kept the things going,” said the Englishman.

Elsewhere, Spain’s Xavier Puig joined English amateur Elliott Oxlade and Morocco’s Lguirati in a tie for the fourth after returning a three-under 69, one ahead of fellow Spaniard Mariano Ochoa, South Africa’s Thriston Arthur Lawrence and England’s Chris McDonnell.

Pakistan’s Shafiq Masih, who won the inaugural American Express Dirab Golf Championship in 2012, settled for a level-par 72.