Camiko Smith had a rough start to his European Tour qualifying tournament in Portugal yesterday.

The Bermuda golfer shot a five-over-par 77 in his first round at Ribagolfe Golf Club.

A series of bad breaks, missed putts, and a triple-bogey at the 405-yard par-4 3rd, all added up to a round that left him in a tie for 85th, some 14 shots behind early leader Peter Bocian, from Sweden, who carded a nine-under 63.

Still, Smith was not too disheartened with his day, despite ruing a couple of birdie attempts that went begging.

“I had a bad hole, a few bad breaks, I gave myself some good attempts at birdies but I couldn’t seem to get any to drop,” he said.

“With the triple, I hit it left into a bush [off the tee], tried to push out but was unsuccessful. All in all I’m hitting the ball well, I just need to make a few putts and cut the big numbers. Mistakes need to be minimal at this level.”

Smith started badly, with a bogey at the par-5 2nd, followed by a triple that dropped him to four over, he got a shot back a 4, dropped another at 5, and then parred 12 of the remaining 13 holes, dropping another shot at the par-4 13th.

*Click here to follow Smith’s progress in Portugal