Wilson misses chance of lead

England's Wilson held a share of the opening round lead at seven under par as he played the par-four, 443-yard 18th hole but landed his second shot in water short of the green on the way to a double-bogey six.

That left the 2008 Ryder Cup player with a first-round 67 on day one of this 80-player, no-cut event, two shots back of clubhouse leaders Jeev Milka Singh of India, Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng, South African Retief Goosen and American Phil Mickelson, who each carded 65s on the par-72, 7,266-yard Blue Monster course.

Ireland's Harrington, the Open and US PGA champion, bounced back from a first round WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship exit to Pat Perez two weeks ago and two missed cuts in his first four starts of the year prior to that.

The Irishman birdied three holes on his front nine and three more at the start of his inward nine to leave him at six under after 15 holes in a share of second place with American Nick Watney and Australia's Rod Pampling, who both posted 66s.

Joining Wilson in the clubhouse on five under were Louis Oosthuizen and James Kingston of South Africa, American Sean O'Hair and Colombia's Camilo Villegas, who had begun his day in the worst possible way. Villegas, a big crowd favourite in Miami, gave his Latin American fans palpitations with an awful start to his round at the par-five 10th, four-putting from the fringe of the green for a bogey six before making amends over the next 17 holes.

Rory McIlroy got off to a great start and saw his round unravel slightly on the back nine. The Northern Ireland 19-year-old, a quarter-finalist at the WGC-Accenture in his first Stateside tournament as a professional and tied for 13th place in last week's Honda Classic, eagled the first hole and was five under after 12 holes before bogeying the 13th and 14th. McIlroy hit back with a birdie two at the 16th and was four under with one to play.

World number one Tiger Woods continued his comeback from knee surgery but was not firing on all cylinders in a solid if unspectacular opening round. Woods, playing in his first stroke-play event in nine months, carded a two-bogey, three-birdie round of 71.

Luke Donald carded a three-under 69 to make light of his wrist injury scare at the WGC-Accenture Match Play two weeks ago while Paul Casey recovered from three over par after six holes to finish with a one-under round of 71.

Lee Westwood had started well, three under after 13 holes before being pegged back to one under for the round after bogeys at the 14th and 15th on his way to a 71, while fellow Englishman Richard Finch was in the clubhouse on level par.