Ian Poulter shrugged off a six-week break to claim the lead midway through the first round of the Barclays Singapore Open today.

Poulter carded a five-under-par 65 at Sentosa Golf Club to lead by one from Ernie Els and Chinese Taipei's Chan Yih-shin.

With his last event coming in the middle of September at the BMW Championship, the penultimate event of the FedEx Cup play-offs, Poulter dropped just one shot around the Serapong Course.

Els and Chan both carded bogey-free rounds of 67 to claim a tie for second. South African Els had a 15-foot birdie chance at his last hole of the day but missed just seconds after Poulter had picked up his sixth birdie of the day playing in the group behind.

Dane Anders Hansen, Japan's Kodai Ichihara and Frenchman Thomas Levet were tied for fourth at three under at the newly co-sanctioned event between the European Tour and Asian Tour, with world number two Phil Mickelson and Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen in a group tied for seventh a shot further back.

Poulter, who was forced to withdraw from the event last year after being unable to replace a driver which was stolen the previous week in Shanghai, reached the turn in a solid two-under 33.

And after recovering from his solitary bogey after he missed the green at the first, his 10th hole of the day, Poulter picked up three birdies over his last six holes to set a competitive first-round target.

Conditions were set to deteriorate for the afternoon starters.

Poulter said: "It was nice. I have had six weeks off and it was nice to ease into a round of golf.

"I didn't know what to expect this week. I have practised pretty hard over the last three weeks trying to get ready for seven weeks on the bounce.

"There were no mistakes on the back nine, my front nine. I then bogeyed the first and then managed to start hitting some shots to give myself some chances with a few holes to play.

"It's nice be able to come out fresh. To take some time off in the latter part of the year, do some good work and come out with some good intentions for the next five or six weeks. As many balls as you hit on the range, you don't know what it will be like, that is just my fourth round of golf in seven weeks."

Els, meanwhile, was pleased with his first round, but will consider a putter change for the second round after bringing two to Singapore.

"It is a good start to the tournament. I felt like I was really in control of my swing today. I hit the ball really nicely. Obviously I would have liked to make some more putts," Els said.

"I left a lot of putts out there I feel. That's just the way it has been. I am hitting putts on line but they are not going in. It is a bit of a lull with the putter.

"I really want to figure it out with the putter. I don't know if a different putter will help."