JORDAN Smith enjoyed a solid if unspectacular start to the Qatar Masters this morning with a one-under-par opening round.

Derry Hill golfer Smith recorded two birdies and a single bogey en route to a first-round 71 and is currently inside the top 60 on the leaderboard with a hefty clutch of players still out on the course at Doha Golf Club.

Teeing off on the 10th hole, Smith began his round with a run of five straight pars before dropping his first shot of the day with a bogey at the 15th – his sixth.

The Bowood man swiftly set that right at the next with his first birdie and he was able to reach the turn at level par.

Smith claimed another birdie at the third hole – his 12th – to go into red figures for the first time but that was as good as it got as he finished with a run of six more pars on the bounce to head back to the clubhouse at one-under.

Of those players to have completed their first rounds, Northern Ireland’s former US Open champion Graeme McDowell, Englishman Nathan Kimsey and Thai player Kiradech Aphibarnrat are in a three-way tie for the clubhouse lead on six-under.

Smith will get his second round under way at 8.20am GMT tomorrow, teeing off at the first hole.