Three tied on shortened first day

England's Van Phillips set his sights on a Ryder Cup place after continuing his fine form in the £350,000 Madeira Island Open.

The former Walker Cup player from Maidenhead has already won his first European Tour title this season, the Algarve Open at the start of the month.

He found himself at the top of the leaderboard again when fog brought an early end to play on the Santo da Serra course perched 2,300 feet above sea level, with almost half the field yet to complete their rounds.

Phillips weathered one of a number of torrential downpours which forced a 95-minute stoppage to fire an opening 68 - four under par - and a share of the lead with Scotland's Ross Drummond and Christopher Hanell of Sweden.

And the confident 26-year-old, who will celebrate his birthday on Saturday, saw no reason why he couldn't continue his form long enough to qualify for Europe's 12-man team to face America in Boston in September.

"It's everyone's ambition to play in the Ryder Cup and it's not impossible for me if I win again or finish high in the big ones," Phillips said.

"From the second week in May there are some good weeks ahead with the Benson and Hedges, Deutsche Bank and Volvo PGA championships (with prize money of more than £4million) and you have to capitalise on it.

"There is definitely a period of change in the Ryder Cup.

"Maybe some of the established guys are not as ambitious and are dropping down, while the younger guys are going for it."

Drummond harboured few such grand ambitions after matching Phillips' 68 but he was delighted with his round in only his third event this season.

The 32-year-old from Prestwick decided to only start his season at the beginning of April despite finishing last year on a high when he won the European Tour qualifying school to regain his card.

After missing the cut in his only two events so far, it began to look as if that could have been a big mistake from the Paisley-born right-hander who is still seeking his first tour title.

But a round with five birdies and just one dropped shot saw his decision vindicated in style.

"I made a commitment to start in Portugal, and you live by your decisions," said Drummond.

"Maybe I was taking a chance leaving it so late to start but I still think I will get about 20 starts.

"I like it here, I was tied for 14th last year. This is a good start, and I'm delighted.

"There was a lot of uncertainty after losing my card and going back to the qualifying school.

"To finish first was as good as I could do, and since coming back on tour, some of the players have congratulated me on producing that performance, they recognise it was out of the top drawer."

Unfortunately, the display of Hampshire's Justin Rose was out of the bottom drawer, the 18-year-old finishing with a four-over 76.

Rose, trying to make his first cut as a professional in 16 attempts, was one under after 12 holes but hindered by the bad weather, dropped five shots in his last six holes and faces an uphill battle to make the last two rounds.