Westwood in contention in Hainan

England’s Lee Westwood trails clubhouse leader Rafael Echenique by two shots at the TCL Classic in Hainan after carding an opening six-under-par 66 at the Yalong Bay Golf Club today.

New Zealand’s Richard Lee, Taiwan’s Lu Wen The and South Africa’s Keith Horne sit a shot adrift of the Argentinian, who could have been further in the lead but struggled over the closing stretch.

Echenique, who qualified for the European Tour following a seventh-placed finish on the 2006 Challenge Tour, failed to birdie the par-five 16th, salvaged par despite finding water on the 17th and birdied the 18th in his 64.

“This is my first time at this course and my first year on the European Tour,” said Echenique.

“The course is beautiful. I heard that last year it was easier, there was less rough. Today I played really good. I started driving perfectly and my putting was excellent.”

Horne went out in 31 before adding an eagle three at the 560-yard 13th to move alongside Lee and Lu with four to play.

Westwood, starting on the back nine, made an ideal start with a birdie at the 10th before adding a superb eagle at the 13th.

A bogey at the 15th was quickly cancelled out by a birdie at the next as the Worksop-born golfer reached the turn in 33.

The 33-year-old collected two early birdies on the front nine, at the second and the fourth, before three-putting the fifth.

Westwood recovered and carded birdies at the seventh and ninth to come home in 33 and was joined on six under by Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat, who has eight holes to play.

“I was pretty pleased with the way I played tee to green. I hit a couple of good shots. I got a bit lucky at the second but 66 was about the worst it could have been,” said Westwood.

Paul McGinley, the 2005 runner-up, carded a disappointing 72, which included four bogeys.

The Ryder Cup star, like Westwood starting on the back nine, went out in 37 but recovered somewhat on the way back, picking up three birdies to go with two bogeys.

“I played really poorly. I have no excuse. I did well to shoot a 72,” he said.

“It was just inconsistent play. I hit a lot of bad shots. I didn’t have any control of the golf ball all day.

“I’ve got to shoot a good score to get back into the tournament. I need to spend some time on the range and find out what I’m doing wrong because I’m not going to shoot that low score with the way I played today, but tomorrow’s another day.”

Liverpool’s Nick Dougherty moved to one under with six to play after carding an inconsistent 36 on the back nine before shooting a birdie three at the 436-yard 12th.

Dougherty had made a solid start to his opening round with two birdies in his opening five holes but dropped shots at the sixth and ninth, while Ryder Cup winning captain Ian Woosnam was level par with five to play

Woosnam, who missed the cut at the 2005 event in Sanya, opened with a birdie at the first but dropped a shot at the 466-yard sixth.