Munich, Germany (My Sportsbook) - Australian Peter O'Malley carded a six- under-par 66 Thursday to grab a piece of the lead after one round of the BMW International Open.

O'Malley was joined atop the leaderboard by South Africa's Anton Haig, Singapore's Mardan Mamat and Argentine Rafa Echenique.

Thomas Aiken, Mark Foster, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, David Lynn and Daniel Vancsik are one shot back at minus-five. Lynn briefly held the lead at minus-seven, but was done in by a double-bogey at the sixth, his 15th.

There are six players tied for 10th, two shots back at four-under-par 68. In all, 65 golfers broke par in the opening round.

O'Malley, as well as Echenique, carded bogey-free rounds on Thursday. O'Malley had a steady from nine at Golfclub Munchen Nord-Eichenried with birdies on one, six and nine.

Around the turn, O'Malley dropped in back-to-back birdies from the 11th to get within one of the lead. He moved to six-under with a birdie on the 16th.

O'Malley, whose last tour win was in 2001, has been travelling more than normal now that the has children.

"I play for three weeks, then go home for a couple," O'Malley stated. "I'm just trying to manage my time better. There's a good run of tournaments now and these are the weeks that you want to play good golf."

Haig started with three straight pars, then birdied four of the next six holes to fly up the leaderboard. He moved into a share of the lead with birdies on 11 and 13. After dropping a shot on 15, Haig birdied the 16th to share the lead.

"This course demands quite a bit of accuracy and I hit my driver really well today," said Haig, who picked up his only win at the 2007 Johnnie Walker Classic. "And I putted really well. Overall, I'm happy with the great start."

Mamat, the 2006 Singapore Masters winner, birdied the first, but gave that shot back with a bogey on the third. He ran off three straight birdies from the sixth to move to minus-three.

On the back nine, Mamat birdied the 11th and followed with another on No. 12. Mamat closed with a birdie on 18 to grab a share of the lead.

Echenique, who is still looking for his first tour win, played the back nine first Thursday and did most of his damage there. His first three birdies came at 11, 13 and 15. He made the turn in minus-five after also collecting birdies at 16 and 18.

The Argentine parred the first six holes of the front nine. He dropped in a birdie on the seventh to get to six-under.

Defending champion Niclas Fasth managed a two-under-par 70 in the opening round. He tied for 31st, four shots behind the leaders.