Defending champion Rory McIlroy trailed nine shots behind a player ranked 506 places below him after a first-round 73 at the UBS Hong Kong Open yesterday.

While a lacklustre McIlroy managed only one birdie to be just inside the top 100 on three over par, little-known Spaniard Javi Colomo produced a superb 64 to lead compatriot Miguel Angel Jimenez by one and take the early clubhouse lead.

Colomo qualified for the event off his Asian Tour ranking, having failed to come through the European qualifying school on three occasions.

The 28-year-old actually began with 10 pars in a row, but five birdies in the next six holes brought him alongside Jimenez and after completing a front-nine 29 he finished his day’s work with a four-foot putt for yet another birdie at the 367-yard 10th.

McIlroy was hoping to put even more of a gloss on a season in which he has won his second major title and topped the money lists on both sides of the Atlantic – a feat nobody had achieved until Luke Donald did it last year.

But he began with a bogey, had to play out left-handed from the trees on the sixth, made a mess of his approach to the 14th and three-putted from the fringe at the next.

With bogeys on all three holes he finished the day down in a share of 93rd place in a field of 144 before telling reporters he felt “lethargic”.

It could so easily have been Jimenez’s day, but after seven birdies the 48-year-old, twice a winner of the title and now trying to become the European Tour’s oldest-ever champion, finished with two bogeys.

Jiminez was playing with fellow countryman and Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal, who shot 66 and said: “I hit three poor shots, but apart from those the rest of the game was pretty solid. Obviously I have to consolidate this the next few days, but it’s nice to have some signs like this one.”

Scot Paul Lawrie stood three under until going in the water at the last and double-bogeying. Paul Casey overcame two double bogeys for a level-par 70, one better than Pádraig Harrington. Peter Lawrie was best of the Irish on two under while Niall Turner, a regular on the Asia Tour, could only post a four over round of 74.

Australian Masters:Queenslander Matthew Guyatt upstaged his more fancied rivals to claim the outright lead after the opening day of the Australian Masters in Melbourne, but tournament drawcards Adam Scott and Ian Poulter are just two shots back.

Guyatt posted a superb seven-under 65 with Scott and Poulter sharing second place with Kiwi Michael Hendry.

There is a group of six players – led by Australian duo Peter O’Malley and Paul Gow – a further shot adrift at four under, while Graeme McDowell could only manage a 71 to be tied for 20th.

But the day belonged to Guyatt, who had a hot putter throughout his round and only narrowly missed the course record of 64 held jointly by Anthony Painter (1994), Robert Allenby (2000) and Kurt Barnes (2010) by one shot.

Scott was out bright and early and managed to make six birdies – including five in seven holes on his second nine – and dropped just the one shot.

It was a case of what could have been for Scott, with the 32-year-old excellent from tee to green, but often let down at the final hurdle by his renowned broomstick putter.

The same can arguably be said for Poulter, with the Englishman looking just at home at Kingston Heath as he did when he won at the Victoria Golf Club last year.

Poulter picked up six birdies on the sandbelt course, with a dropped shot at the par-four 16th the only blemish as he attempts to become just the second man after Greg Norman to defend his Masters title.

Japan Tour:Luke Donald, appearing in the Japan Tour event for the first time since 2007, is tied for the lead after the opening round of the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament at the Phoenix Country Club in Japan.

The world number three carded a six-under par round of 65 in Miyazaki on the eastern coast of the southern island of Kyushu to share the lead with home player Hideto Tanihara and Australian Brendan Jones.

The Englishman came home in 30, picking up birdies at each of the last three holes, in the Japanese tour event.

European Ryder Cup star Nicolas Colsaerts is tied for eighth place, four off the lead. Japanese player Ryo Ishikawa, who won last weekend’s Taiheiyo Masters for his first victory in two years, shot a 73 that had him tied for 48th.

South African Open:Charl Schwartzel started with a solid 68 on the opening day at the Serengeti Golf and Wildlife estate in Ekurhuleni, but it was fellow countryman Merrick Bremner who led the way, shooting an eight-under-par 64.

Northern Ireland’s Gareth Maybin has work to do after opening with a 73.