Park finds a bit of form at long last

Welshman David Park, who won on his second European Tour start but has not finished in the top three in 134 events since, holds a one-shot lead after the first round of the Spanish Open.

Park carded a flawless, six-under-par 64 in Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands to move ahead of compatriot Jamie Donaldson, with England's Roger Chapman and France's Christian Cevaer a stroke further back in third.

Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez, winner of the Seville Open last weekend, continued his good form with a 67, but pre-tournament favourite Jose Maria Olazabal could manage only a one-over-par 71.

Best of the Irish quartet was Kilkenny's Gary Murphy, who is tied for 28th place after a solid, level par 70 which included three birdies and three bogeys.

Graeme McDowell is a shot further back, but Damien McGrane (75) and Peter Lawrie (76) will have to produce something special today to see any action over the weekend.

Park made an amazing start to his European Tour career, leading from the start of his first event in the Moroccan Open in 1999 only to lose to Miguel Angel Martin on the sixth hole of a play-off.

The following week he went one better by winning the European Grand Prix, and finished 40th in the Order of Merit from just 15 starts. But he struggled to recapture that form the following year and had to return to the qualifying school to keep his playing rights in 2001.

"It was a little difficult to deal with because it was a goal of mine and it came a bit quicker than I had envisaged, so it was a bit of a shock to the system," explained the 29-year-old from Hereford, who carded a final round 65 in Seville on Sunday to finish joint 10th. "It was sort of 'where do I go from here?' and it took me a while to figure it out."

Olazabal's hopes of a good start were dented by his putter as he slid seven strokes behind the leader.

The 38-year-old two-time Masters champion is aiming to win his first national Open, but a frustrating day on the greens, in which he missed two three-footers and four putts inside eight feet, dampened his optimism.

"I missed a bunch of makeable putts and that doesn't help the cause," said Olazabal, who is trying to move up from 34th on the European Ryder Cup list and 24th on the world list.

"Two of them were only three feet and none of the misses was more than eight feet," he added. "That's the difference in making a score, because I didn't hit the ball too badly some of the time. It puts a lot of pressure on your game.

"The grain made it very difficult to read the lines, but I have to hold my hands up and say it's maybe not the greens, but me."

Olazabal, playing for the first time in Europe this year and floundering at 138th in the world rankings, scoffed at suggestions he was under more pressure because he is tournament favourite.

"I don't think I'm favourite for anything these days," he said.