Behind these was a glut of a dozen players all on 4-under. And ominously, the group contained two of the tournament's ‘big beasts' – Ernie Els and Henrik Stenson.

"It was a solid round of golf," said Els. "I didn't have a bogey on the card, which I haven't done for a while." But the South African rued several missed chances. "Weather-wise, it was beautiful and the course the golf course was there for the taking. So I felt like I left some shots out there, but I feel kind of fresh and my swing felt really good. So I'm looking forward to the rest of the week."

Another major attraction, Fred Couples of the USA, returned a 69 and was satisfied with his opening effort.

"I hit the ball pretty well," said the American. "I made my share of nice little eight and 10 footers to keep the round going. I bogeyed the last, but it's a hard hole. I have to just come out tomorrow and try to get it going again."

One who is clearly suffering a slight hangover is last week's winner Scott Strange of Australia. Scott had an up and down day with five birdies and six bogeys to finish one-over on 73. Worse still was last year's winner Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland, whose score of four-over 76 was certainly not how he would have wanted to launch his title defense.

"I'm shocked and stunned," said the Northern Irishman. "I drove it all over the place. It was just a bad morning in the office. Obviously I'm going to need three really good rounds to try to compete on the weekend. I'll be going out all guns blazing tomorrow."

Liang Wenchong – Steady golf in the first round of the Ballantine’s Championship

China's top player Liang Wenchong made a steady start with a one-under par 71, where he lies alongside England's lee Westwood. Both will need to play well tomorrow as they are right on the half way numbers at the moment.

Wu Ashun, who was one of only four Chinese to make the cut last week, was in the process of putting together an excellent round. He had reached 4-under by the 11th, and was lying neatly placed in the top ten, when a catastrophic 9 on the par-4 12th sent him plummeting almost one hundred places down the leaderboard. He finished on one-over, two strokes behind what is expected to be the cut-line, and will have to work hard tomorrow.

Wu Ashun – Going great guns until a disastrous 9 on the par-4 12th dropped him 100 places down the leaderboard

The US $3 million Ballantine's Championship is the first Asian Tour event in Korea this season and is sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and Korean PGA.

Leading first round scores

65 - Mark Brown (NZL), Gonzalo Fernandez-castano (ESP)

66 - Kang Kyung-Nam (KOR), Thongchai Jaidee (THA), Robert-Jan Derksen (NED)

67 - Robert Dinwiddie (ENG), Alessandro Tadini (ITA),Jason Knutzon (USA)

68 - Scott Barr (AUS), Lam Chih Bing (SIN), Henrik Stenson (SWE), Chawalit Plaphol (THA), Hong Soon-sang (KOR), Brett Rumford (AUS), Rafael Cabrera B (ESP), Kim Hyung-tae (KOR), Ernie Els (RSA), Kim Dae-hyun (KOR), Mikko Ilonen (FIN), Kang Wook-soon (KOR)

Selected scores

69 – Fred Couples (Usa)

71 - Noh Seung-yul (KOR), Liang Wen-chong (CHN)

76 - Graeme Mcdowell (NIR)

(China.org.cn by David Ferguson April 24, 2009)