Paul McGinley surprised himself after feeling the effects of a long season trying to qualify for the Ryder Cup by firing an opening six-under-par 65 yesterday in the Hong Kong Open in Fanling.

It left the Dubliner sharing second place with Jose Maria Olazabal and local professional James Stewart, one shot behind Australian sensation Adam Scott.

"I'm pleased obviously and surprised, I maximised my score and it could have easily been a 70 or 71," McGinley said. "I do feel a bit weary and there are a lot of very good players playing well, so it's going to be a tough week.

"I've played a lot of golf this year and I'm out of gas, so I'm trying to conserve as much energy as possible."

Olazabal, who describes his driving as his Achilles heel, had a spring in his step after continuing where he left off last week when he finished second to Jarmo Sandelin in the Asian Open. Olazabal was optimistic he had finally found a cure for his wayward tee-shots then, and that optimism looked well founded after his 65.

Four birdies on the front nine took Olazabal out in 31 and the three more accrued at the 11th, 12th and 14th lifted the double US Masters champion to seven under par and one shot clear of the field.

Scott got back on level terms, however, with his seventh birdie of the day on the 17th, and Olazabal then dropped his only shot of the day on the 18th after what was a rare poor tee-shot.

"I struck the ball quite well today and it was just a pity about the last," admitted Olazabal, who was urged to seek help on his driving from caddy Phil Morbey and spent 15 minutes with coach Pete Cowen at the recent Volvo Masters in Spain.

"That always leaves a sour taste in the mouth but I was pretty solid. The driving was not quite as good as it was last week but I feel it is much better than it has been all year long."

Scott, who tried his hand at mixing cocktails at the pro-am dinner on Wednesday evening, had made a brilliant start with a hat-trick of birdies from the first, and he and Olazabal were 12 under par between them after 14 holes.

The Australian had bogeyed the fifth but then went on a run of birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle from the ninth and had his sights set on Patrik Sjoland's course record of 62 from 1999.

"I got off to a great start and really could have gone on from there," said the 21-year-old, who is suffering from blisters on his right foot.

"The bogey on the fifth cooled me down a bit before the ninth onwards got me in great shape, and I could easily have got it to double digits under par today.

"But I threw in another bogey on the 15th, I missed two greens all day and made two bogeys.

"There are a couple of tricky holes, but the conditions are perfect and you're going to need to keep going pretty low all week. The good thing today was that the putter was not very hot - fortunately the par fives took care of that - so hopefully I can get the putter going."

Yorkshire's Simon Dyson had also made a solid start to the defence of his title with a first-round 67, while New Zealand's Michael Campbell went one better with a 66.

Dyson's victory here 12 months ago was his third of the season and clinched the Asian Tour Order of Merit title for the 23-year-old.

After gaining his card with an eight-foot birdie putt on the 108th and final hole in the qualifying school a few weeks later, Dyson went on to finish 87th on the European Tour in 2001 with two top-10 finishes.

That meant he kept his card for the 2002 season - which officially started last week - but it was a largely disappointing year.

"That's more like what I can play like," Dyson said after four birdies and no bogeys in his 67.