Raphael Jacquelin & Jose-Felipe Lima lead with 65s

Raphael Jacquelin of France and French-born Jose-Felipe Lima of Portugal posted seven-under 65s to lead the BMW International Open first round by a stroke on Thursday.

Jacquelin showed his liking for the Eichenried course where he is joint course record-holder after a 62 in 2003.

The joint leaders head another Frenchman, 47-year-old Marc Farry, Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Briton Paul Broadhurst.

World number five Ernie Els of South Africa and Swede Niclas Fasth lie two shots off the lead while Britons Paul Casey and Nick Dougherty are three behind.

Lima, born in Versailles of Portuguese parents, set the target after a short break because of bad weather earlier in the day.

Jacquelin, seeking his second title of the season after victory in the Asian Open in March caught Lima in the afternoon.

The Frenchman was happy to excel on one of his favourite hunting grounds.

"I shot 10-under one time here, I won a car here for a hole-in-one in 2001 and today I holed some putts," Jacquelin told reporters.

His key putt was not for one of his eight birdies but a 25-foot save on the 14th for par which subsequently kept him on top of the leaderboard.

Like Jacquelin, Lima hit back from an early bogey, including two eagles on his card, the last at the 18th coming from only seven feet.

Lima was happy to have at last found form after suffering back problems.

"This round was good for my confidence," Lima said. "The beginning of the year has been very difficult, with a lot of missed cuts."

Casey blamed the greens that softened in the afternoon following earlier rain for not being higher up on the leaderboard.

"It was an afternoon of some good golf but on a golf course which wouldn't yield birdies," he said. "I hit some tremendous putts but they (the greens) are bumpy and soft and footprints kept them out."