GOLF:DAMIEN McGRANE claimed a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea, carding eight birdies in a six-under-par round of 66 at Blackstone GC yesterday.

The 40-year-old from Co Meath, the winner of the China Open in 2008, is one clear of Chile’s Felipe Aguilar, England’s Richard Finch and home favourite Park Sang-hyun, while world number one Lee Westwood was on level par after closing with a double bogey.

“I made plenty of birdies and I putted nicely,” McGrane said. “I had good pace on my putts, which is important to me. If I get good pace, I can hole putts. Obviously, I want to build on that and keep going.

“I holed everything inside 15 feet. I made two bogeys, which were out of nowhere, really, but that’s golf, I suppose.

McGrane predicted a low-scoring tournament: “I still think there are a lot of birdie chances out there and scoring will be quite low this week,” he said

“The fairways are generous and, just like last week, you make birdies on day one and keep going till the end of the tournament. That’s what I started off doing, so hopefully I’ll do it at end of the tournament.

Westwood, who returned to the top of the world rankings following his victory at the Indonesian Masters last week, made a solid start in Incheon before ending with a six at the par-four ninth – his 18th of the day.

“I’m still in contention,” said the Englishman. “On the first 15 holes I played very nicely and gave myself a lot of chances without really making any putts.”

Scotland’s Richie Ramsay is in fifth place alongside Chinnarat Phadungsil of Thailand, while Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez is in a share of 11th.

Ernie Els shot a one-over 73 in his opening round, a shot better than Ian Poulter, who had two double-bogeys in his 74.

Paul McGinley and Michael Hoey are both one under after 71s, while Shane Lowry and Gareth Maybin shot level-par 72s.

Finch enjoyed five birdies in a bogey-free round and was pleased with his progress.

He said: “Today I feel like I got up out on the right side of the bed and a few things went my way.

“When I hit putts too hard, and I’m thinking, please hit the hole, it hit the hole and disappeared. That’s a two-shot swing, basically.

“You do need that little bit of luck and for things to go your way. Hopefully I still have a bit left in the tank but certainly took advantage today.”

Aguilar had four birdies in an outward 32 and one more on the way home.

“You never know until the fat lady sings,” he said. “It’s just the beginning of the round – you can lose the tournament today, you can’t win it. We are just getting ourselves in position to be in contention. I came off to a pretty hot start.

“I ran into a little trouble at the end of the round; the wind picked up and it was kind of swirling, so it was difficult to read,” he said.

“I missed a couple of greens coming in but my short game was good.

“The course is playing great. I got off to a pretty hot start. I made a couple of long putts that really helped, and I could really feel the tension, especially coming into the last couple of holes. Overall I’m really happy with the round.”

Aguilar insisted he was not thinking just yet about adding to his lone European Tour victory, which came at the 2008 Indonesian Open.

The event is once again co-sanctioned by the European Tour, Asian Tour and Korea PGA.