Ireland are just three strokes behind a trio of co-leaders after the first round of the World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy in Japan.

Rounds of three under 69 for The Island's Gavin Moynihan and West Waterford's Gary Hurley on the Iriyama Course at Karuizawa 72 Golf East were the counting scores while a fine 70 by Greystones' Paul Dunne was discarded as Pádraig Hogan's charges totalled six under 138 for a share of 10th spot.

Scoring

Canada, Sweden and Switzerland share the lead at 10 under par, one clear of Argentina and Denmark with holders the United States tied for sixth with England on eight under.

Ireland are tied for 10th with Scotland, Spain, Mexico, Chile and hosts Japan, just one-stroke adrift eight-placed Puerto Rico and Chile with Wales joint 20th on four under.

"We're happy with day one," said Irish captain Hogan. "All three of the boys played well.  The scoring is exceptionally good. The greens are challenging. Most of the scoring was done on Iriyama course today, so we'll have a better idea of the projected winning total after we play the Oshitate Course tomorrow.

"To be honest,  we left a few putts out there but the guys played very steadily and only dropped four shots to par between them."

Moynihan opened with six pars, birdied the 16th and 17th to turn in 34 and then picked up another shot at the 441-yard sixth to sign for a bogey-free 69.

Hurley had six birdies in his 69, erasing bogeys at the 10th, 15th and sixth with birdies at the 11th, 14th, 17th, first, third and ninth.

Dunne made just one bogey in his 70, at the 12th (his third) with birdies at the 17th, first and third giving him a solid opening round.

The IGF writes:

Canada’s Corey Conners, the 2014 U.S. Amateur runner-up, and Taylor Pendrith, who were college teammates and roommates, tallied 66 and 68 as Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult fired the day’s lowest round, a 7-under-par 65, to go along with Hannes Ronneblad’s 69 and Switzerland received a 66 from Mathias Eggenberger and a 68 from Benjamin Rusch to tie at 134 at Karuizawa’s par-72 Iriyama Course.

“We put in some really good preparation,” said Canadian captain Graham Hill. “Derek Ingram, our coach, works very closely with all the guys here. I don’t think we’re surprised that we played well here today. We put the preparation and the hard work in so this isn’t a surprise to us. We’re just taking it day by day and we’re happy with the start.”

Conners, who shared 2014 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year honors with Pendrith at Kent State University in the USA, exploded for five birdies on his opening nine and finished with seven against one bogey en route to a 6-under 66. Pendrith, who was 6-under through 16 holes, bogeyed the last two holes for a 4-under 68. Adam Svensson shot a non-counting 3-under 69.

“We’re not going to try to do anything crazy. We’re just going to stick to our game plan and try to play to our strengths and if we happen to shoot 29-under-par that would be pretty sweet, but we’re just going to stick to our game plan,” said Conners, referring to the winning score in the recently-completed Women’s World Amateur Team Championship at Karuizawa. In that competition, Australia came from behind to defeat Canada by two strokes.

Sweden’s Kinhult posted seven birdies on bogey-free card. The 18-year-old won the silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games two weeks ago in China then flew home to play in the Jacques Leglise Trophy in Sweden and then flew to Japan.

“Overall, it was a solid round from tee to green,” said Kinhult. “I was never in trouble and that was the key. It’s always nice to be in the mix. You want to make sure you stay in your position until the last day.”

The long-hitting Ronneblad registered four birdies against a lone bogey. Teammate Adam Blomme shot a non-counting 72.

“It is a very good start,” said Swedish captain Bjorn Engstrom. “But, it is just one day and we have a long way. If you have been in this situation before, you can calm down after the first round. All of the players have the potential for low scores, all of them.”

Eggenberger, who represented the continent of Europe at the St. Andrews Trophy in Sweden and attends Stirling University in Scotland, carded an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys. Rusch tallied six birdies and two bogeys in his round. Marco Iten shot a non-counting 72.

“The guys played fantastically,” said Swiss captain Toni Matt. “It was very steady with very good feeling and they did a beautiful job.”

“It’s always nice to see yourself as well as the team on top of the leaderboard,” Eggenberger said. “I played -6 today, which was quite solid. I’m happy with my performance and to help the team.”

Denmark shot 9-under 133 at the par-71 Oshitate Course to share fourth place with Argentina, which shot 135 at Iriyama. England and the USA are tied for sixth at 8-under, both at Iriyama. Puerto Rico and the Czech Republic posted 7-under at Iriyama and Oshitate, respectively to hold joint eighth place. At 6-under were: Chile (Oshitate) and Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Scotland and Spain (Iriyama).

Thirty-seven teams broke par in the first round and 65 sub-par scores counted, breaking the record of 42 in 2004.

The World Amateur Team Championship is a biennial international amateur competition conducted by the International Golf Federation (IGF), which comprises 137 national governing bodies in 131 countries. The competition, which is being held for the 26th time, is rotated among three geographic zones: Asia-Pacific, Americas and Europe-Africa.

This year’s event is hosted by the Japan Golf Association. The teams play for the Eisenhower Trophy. The IGF is the international federation for golf for the International Olympic Committee and will conduct the Olympic golf competition in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. In each round, the total of the two lowest scores from each team constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day (72-hole) total is the team’s score for the championship.

Teams which played the Iriyama Course in the first round will play the Oshitate Course in the second round and vice versa.

2014 World Amateur Team Championship Oshitate Course (OC) Par-71, 7,010 yards/6,406 metres; Iriyama Course (IC) par-72, 7,008 yards/6,405 metres at Karuizawa 72 Golf East

(Note: Scores are listed with relation to par because of the difference in par on the two golf courses)

T1.Canada (CAN) - 134 IC (-10) Corey Conners 66 Taylor Pendrith 68 Adam Svensson 69

T1.Sweden (SWE) - 134 IC (-10) Marcus Kinhult 65 Hannes Ronneblad 69 Adam Blomme 72

T1.Switzerland (SUI) - 134 IC (-10) Mathias Eggenberger 66 Benjamin Rusch 68 Marco Iten 72

T4.Argentina (ARG) - 135 IC (-9) Jaime Lopez Rivarola 67 Alejandro Tosti 68 Matias Simaski 72

T4.Denmark (DEN) - 133 OC (-9) Nicolai Kristensen 66 Martin Leth Simonsen 67 Niklas Noergaard Moeller 72

T6.England (ENG) - 136 IC (-8) Benjamin Stow 67 Ashley Chesters 69 Ryan Evans 72

T6.United States of America (USA) - 136 IC (-8) Denny McCarthy 68 Beau Hossler 68 Bryson DeChambeau 69

T8.Czech Republic (CZE) - 135 OC (-7) Simon Zach 67 Vitek Novak 68 Michal Pospisil 76

T8.Puerto Rico (PUR) - 137 IC (-7) Jeronimo Esteve 67 Edward Figueroa 70 Robi Calvesbert 72

T10.Chile (CHI) - 136 OC (-6) Matias Dominguez 67 Martin Cancino 69 Guillermo Pereira 69

T10.Ireland (IRL) - 138 IC (-6) Gavin Moynihan 69 Gary Hurley 69 Paul Dunne 70

T10.Japan (JPN) - 138 IC (-6) Kazuya Koura 69 Kenta Konishi 69 Takashi Ogiso 71

T10.Mexico (MEX) - 138 IC (-6) Gerardo Ruiz De La Concha 68 Aaron Terrazas Morales 70 Alvaro Ortiz Becerra 71

T10.Scotland (SCO) - 138 IC (-6) Grant Forrest 68 Chris Robb 70 Bradley Neil 72

T10.Spain (ESP) - 138 IC (-6) Mario Galiano 68 Jon Rahm 70 Daniel Berna 75

T16.Australia (AUS) - 137 OC (-5) Ryan Ruffels 68 Lucas Herbert 69 Geoff Drakeford 71

T16.Chinese Taipei (TPE) - 137 OC (-5) Chun-An Yu 67 Cheng-Tsung Pan 70 Wei-Lun Wang 75

T16.Germany (GER) - 137 OC (-5) Hurly Long 67 Maximilian Mehles 70 Maximilian Rottluff 71

T16.Venezuela (VEN) - 139 IC (-5) Jorge Garcia 66 Alejandro Perazzo 73 Gustavo Morantes 78

T20.Austria (AUT) - 140 IC (-4) Robin Goger 69 Markus Maukner 71 Lukas Lipold 72

T20.Belgium (BEL) - 138 OC (-4) Thomas Detry 68 Kevin Hesbois 70 Samuel Echikson 75

T20.France (FRA) - 140 IC (-4) Victor Perez 69 Clement Sordet 71 Robin Sciot Siegrist 72

T20.Italy (ITA) - 140 IC (-4) Renato Paratore 69 Enrico Di Nitto 71 Guido Migliozzi 75

T20.Wales (WAL) - 138 OC (-4) Michael Hearne 68 David Boote 70 Rhys Pugh 70

T25.India (IND) - 141 IC (-3) Udayan Mane 68 Feroz Garewal 73 Manu Gandas 76

T25.Norway (NOR) - 141 IC (-3) Kristoffer Ventura 70 Kristian Johannessen 71 Andreas Halvorsen 74

T27.Bermuda (BER) - 142 IC (-2) Jarryd Dillas 71 Mark Phillips 71 Will Haddrell 73

T27.Brazil (BRA) - 140 OC (-2) Andre Tourinho 68 Thomaz Pimenta 72 Herik Machado 74

T27.People's Republic of China (CHN) - 142 IC (-2) Zecheng Dou 68 Jin Zhang 74 Zhengkai Bai 75

T27.Poland (POL) - 142 IC (-2) Mateusz Gradecki 70 Adrian Meronk 72 Jan Szmidt 79

T27.Singapore (SIN) - 142 IC (-2) Jonathan Woo 70 Johnson Poh 72 Marc Ong 81

T27.Slovenia (SLO) - 140 OC (-2) Tim Gornik 67 Zan Luka Stirn 73 Enej Sarkanj 74

T27.Thailand (THA) - 140 OC (-2) Suradit Yongcharoenchai 68 Nattawat Suvajanakorn 72 Chanachok Dejpiratanamongkol 74

T34.Colombia (COL) - 141 OC (-1) Nicolas Echavarria 70 Santiago Gomez 71 Ricardo Celia 71

T34.Hong Kong, China (HKG) - 141 OC (-1) Matthew Cheung 70 Martin Liu 71 Shinichi Mizuno 73

T34.Malaysia (MAS) - 143 IC (-1) Kyle Green Gavin 68 Low Khai Jei 75 Abdul Manaf Muhammad Wafiyuddin 75

T34.Portugal (POR) - 143 IC (-1) Joao Carlota 69 Goncalo Costa 74 Tomas Silva 80

T38.Finland (FIN) - 144 IC (Even) Linus Vaisanen 72 Kristian Kulokorpi 72 Albert Eckhardt 73

T38.Netherlands (NED) - 142 OC (Even) Michael Kraaij 71 Robbie Van West 71 Lars Van Meijel 72

T38.New Zealand (NZL) - 144 IC (Even) Joshua Munn 72 Tae Koh 72 Vaughan McCall 74

T38.Republic of Korea (KOR) - 142 OC (Even) Eun-Ho Youm 71 Nam-Hun Kim 71 Tae-Hyun Kong 73

T38.Slovakia (SVK) - 144 IC (Even) Jan Friesz 72 Oliver Gabor 72 Peter Valasek 75

T38.South Africa (RSA) - 144 IC (Even) Zander Lombard 68 Gerlou Roux 76 Jason Smith 78

44.Fiji (FIJ) - 143 OC (+1) Sam Lee 71 Olaf Frank Grant Allen 72 Abid Hussain 81

T45.Costa Rica (CRC) - 146 IC (+2) Jose Mendez 71 Alvaro Ortiz 75 Manuel Jimenez 84

T46.Guam (GUM) - 144 OC (+2) Devin Hua 72 Louie Sunga 72 Daryl Poe 76

T46.Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) - 144 OC (+2) Hassan Karimian Noshahr 70 Behrod Keshtavar 74 Ali Khazanbeik 78

T46.Russian Federation (RUS) - 144 OC (+2) Mikhail Morozov 70 Nikita Ponomarev 74 Pavel Goryainov 77

T49.Guatemala (GUA) - 148 IC (+4) Jose Pablo Rolz 74 Sebastian Barnoya 74 Daniel Gurtner 79

T49.Malta (MLT) - 146 OC (+4) Andrew Borg 72 John Verlest Micallef 74 Daniel Holland 77

51.Philippines (PHI) - 148 OC (+6) Raymart Tolentino 74 Rupert Zaragosa 74 Kristoffer Arevalo 75

T52.Greece (GRE) - 149 OC (+7) Vasileios Koumpakis 70 Nikolaos Efthymiadis 79 Stamatios Kavadas 79

T52.Jamaica (JAM) - 149 OC (+7) Sean Morris 72 Jonathan Newnham 77 Keith Stein 77

T54.Dominican Republic (DOM) - 152 IC (+8) Ernesto Vitienes 75 Juan Jose Guerra 77 Francisco Pichardo 81

T54.Turkey (TUR) - 152 IC (+8) Ali Altuntas 76 Ediz Kemaloglu 76 Serkan Akarsu 77

T54.Uruguay (URU) - 150 OC (+8) Juan Alvarez 71 Facundo Alvarez 79 Agustin Acosta 81

57.Qatar (QAT) - 153 IC (+9) Saleh Al Kaabi 76 Ali Al Shahrani 77 Abdul Rahman Al Shahrani 90

58.Serbia (SRB) - 154 IC (+10) Cedomir Ilic 77 Ilija Djurdjevic 77 Ranko Helc 81

T59.Bahrain (BRN) - 154 OC (+12) Hamad Mubarak 76 Abdulla Sultan 78 Nasser Yacoob 79

T59.Estonia (EST) - 156 IC (+12) Martin Jarve 76 Marten Palm 80 Sander Aadusaar 81

T59.United Arab Emirates (UAE) - 156 IC (+12) Khalid Al Jasmi 74 Rashid Hamood 82 Sohail Al Marzouqi 82

62.Mauritius (MRI) - 155 OC (+13) Ian Espitalier Noel 77 Ludovic Bax 78 Brent Sussens 87

63.Ghana (GHA) - 164 OC (+22) Maxwell Owusu-Bonsu 81 Peter Amenyo 83

64.Ukraine (UKR) - 170 OC (+28) Artur Badiuk 82 Fedir Karhapolov 88 Emir Priadko 89

65.Gabon (GAB) - 174 OC (+32) Thomas Mba Agostino 86 Leon-Paul Lobo 88 Kevin Aboumi Mouba 88

66.El Salvador (ESA) - 179 OC (+37) Sebastian Bettaglio 89 Gerardo Alvarez 90 Ricardo Reyes 100

67.Kyrgyzstan (KGZ) - 189 OC (+47) Sergey Kim 92 Konstantin Surikov 97 Andrey Sazanov 97