Rookie Scottish pro Conor Syme upstaged some of his more fancied opponents with a 68 on day one of the Portugal Masters at Vilamoura.

Connor Syme on the first tee in his first pro event.

While Marc Warren, with a four-under 67 to be just three shots from the lead led the Tartan challenge, the Drumoig-based Syme looked very sharp on his play-for-pay debut.

Syme, 22 is playing on an invitation and turned pro immediately following the recent Walker Cup.

The young Scot managed five birdies and dropped two shots on the testing Victoria course on the Algarve to upstage some more fancied European Tour stars including former European No. 1 Robert Karlsson (69), fellow Scot and former Open Champion, Paul Lawrie (69) along with Florida-based Russell Knox (69) while other compatriots Craig Lee (73) and Stephen Gallacher (74) struggled.

Also shooting similar three-under 68s at Syme was fellow Scots Scott Jamieson and Duncan Stewart.

The duo of Dutchman Joost Luiten and South African George Coetzee head the Portugal field with seven-under 64s.

Luiten bounced back brilliantly after missing the cut by a shot last week in his own KLM Open and an event he has won twice previously.

“It was a tough week for me last week to miss the cut by one but in this game, there is always next week and always a next shot,” he said.

“I just hit the ball lovely today and when you hit the fairways here you can be aggressive into the greens”.

Coetzee, and coming off a share of third in Holland, got his round off to a flyer with six birdies in his opening eight holes including four in succession from his third hole.