Monty looking for Shanghai surprise

But the Scot refused to get too carried away after a bogey-free opening round of 69 saw him among the early frontrunners at the Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club.

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After starting the season with four top-20 finishes on the European Tour, culminating in a tie for sixth at the Johnny Walker Classic at the beginning of March, Montgomerie went on to endure a fairly torrid time in America and came into a tournament which is co-sanctioned by both the European and Asian Tours on the back of a missed cut at the Masters.

However, the 43-year-old felt returning to the scene of an event where he finished in a tie for third last year would see a return to the form which brought him eight European Order of Merit titles.

"I always feel I can compete," said Montgomerie, who is three shots behind leader Rafael Jacquelin as he bids for a first European Tour title since the Hong Kong Open in December 2005.

"I hadn't been playing well and had a poor month in America.

"I played 12 rounds there, not one of which was under par, and that was very disappointing.

"But I came here again thinking 'Okay I did well here last year so let's see if I can do it again this year.

"But it's just a decent start. You can't win it on Thursday, you can only lose it and there are a few people that lost it today because of the difficult conditions.

"I haven't, which is good, and I'm in a position where a good round tomorrow will set me up for a half-decent weekend, so we'll see. But I thought I played well today"

Paul Casey, on the other hand, opened with a level-par 72 after his preparations were disrupted by a missing suitcase that is due to arrive in Shanghai tomorrow.

A birdie on the seventh hole was offset by a bogey on the par-five 13th but the 29-year-old feels he is not out of contention despite trailing Jacquelin by six strokes.

"Six under is a very good score but I'm not that far out of it," Casey said.

"It would've been nice if I could have converted a birdie opportunity at the last, but it's tough out there.

"Conditions are hard but I've got to go out tomorrow and attack it and if the wind is calm in the morning, that would be great."

Jacquelin, who led last week's Volvo China Open after two rounds before fading away over the weekend, revealed he has yet to decide how he will approach his second round after firing seven birdies and a bogey in his opening effort of 66 to lead Dane Soren Kjeldsen by one stroke.

"It's always good to shoot low in the first round as it takes a bit of the pressure off and you can relax a bit," said the Frenchman, who also finished second in Portugal at the start of April.

"But I'm going to wait to see how strong the wind will be tomorrow. It will make a big difference to the way I play the holes."

Ernie Els, who arrived in China late after the Heritage tournament in South Carolina overran into Monday, was satisfied to still be in touch after posting a one-under-par score of 71.

"I saw the leaderboards as I went out but it's the first round and I just didn't want to shoot myself out of it," said the South African star, who also missed the cut at the Masters.

"I had some chances. I could easily have been three under and missed chances coming in but we have three days left and I have to keep going."

Leading first round scores:

66 Raphael Jacquelin (France)

67 Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark)

68 Gregory Havret (France)

Lee Sung (South Korea)

Gavin Flint (Australia)

69 Park Jun-Won (South Korea)

Scott Hend (Australia)

Colin Montgomerie (Britain)

Tony Carolan (Australia)

Peter Hanson (Sweden)

Lin Wen-Hong (China)

Selected others:

70 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain)

Simon Dyson (Britain)

71 Mark Pilkington (Britain)

Garry Houston (Britain)

Retief Goosen (South Africa)

Ernie Els (South Africa)

72 Paul Casey (Britain)

Thaworn Wiratchant (Thailand)

Marcus Higley (Britain)

Stephen Gallacher (Britain)

Shaun Webster (Britain)

Simon Wakefield (Britain)