MILAN, Italy -- John Daly shot a 5-under 67 to trail co-leaders Ross McGowan and Marco Ruiz by three strokes after the first round of the Italian Open on the European Tour.

The 609th-ranked Daly, who hasn't finished in the top 10 of a tournament in three years, had seven birdies and two bogeys. McGowan had eight birdies, one less than Ruiz, who bogeyed the 12th.

Mark Foster, Marc Warren and Hennie Otto were one stroke behind the leaders, and eight golfers trailed by two.

Daily briefly held the lead with six birdies and a bogey on the first 10 holes.

"I moved the ball up in my stance and that was a good day," said Daly, who had stomach surgery last month. "This is the healthiest I've been in more than a year -- it was brutal with the pain and it's nice to have my swing back."

McGowan equalled the lowest round of his brief European Tour career on Thursday. The 26-year-old from England has already made it into the world's top 100 in the early stages of this his first full season. But Ryder Cup hopeful Nick Dougherty, playing just two days after his mother's funeral, managed a 71.

Runner-up on the second-tier European Challenge Tour after two wins last year, 2006 English Amateur champion McGowan had four successive birdies from the 13th as he turned in a superb 30.

Two more birdies in his last four holes completed his day's work -- and prompted playing partner and former Ryder Cup star Peter Baker to say: "That's the best display of driving I've since since Greg Norman and Ian Woosnam."

"On the important holes you have to drive well, but I also holed out well from 10 feet and in," McGowan said. "The next goal is to try to secure my card for next season, then I'll take it from there."

Ruiz, from Paraguay, is ranked only 410th in the world, but won in Argentina in December and was leading for a while in Seville last Sunday before slipping back to 15th. Another Paraguayan, Fabrizio Zanotti, is also in the top 10 after a 66 and they are further examples of how a tiny golfing nation -- just six courses -- can still pack a punch.

Carlos Franco has won four times on the PGA TOUR, Julieta Granada and Celeste Troche won the Women's World Cup last year and there was also the occasion when Scotland lost to them in the Alfred Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews.

Colin Montgomerie famously said on the eve of that clash: "If we lose to them, we might as well go home."

Dougherty, who chose to play this week because he knows his mother wanted him to, said before his first round that he might score "67 or 87." The 25-year-old was glad it was far closer to the former than the latter, but he may well need a 69 on Friday just to survive the halfway cut.

"I felt a bit emotional on the first tee and it was tough," he said. "It's just a weird feeling. I felt a bit cloudy all day. I've got to get on with it, though, because she will get in a huff. She will be gutted by that today."

Copyright 2008 Associated Press and PA Sport. All rights reserved.