Lee Westwood opened his title defense of the Open de Andalucia in style Thursday with a seven-under-par 65 and the first-round lead at Aloha Golf Club.
Amateur sensation Danny Willett and Jan-Are Larsen are knotted in second place at six-under-par 66. Matthew Millar is alone in fourth place at five-under-par 67.
Westwood began his opening round on the 10th tee and drained an 18-footer for birdie. The Englishman tallied his only other birdie of his first nine at the par-four 15th.
The defending champion, who is the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 20, surged up the leaderboard with his play on the front nine at Aloha Golf Club.
Westwood birdied the par-five first hole, then parred the next two. He rattled off three consecutive birdies from the fourth to grab a share of the lead at minus-six.
Westwood closed his round exactly how he began it. At the short, par-four ninth, Westwood holed an 18-footer for birdie to take sole possession of the first-round lead.
"I didn't make too many mistakes and my course management was good," said Westwood, who won last year, despite an opening-round, even-par 72.
Westwood participated last week in the WGC-CA Championship at Doral in the United States. This tournament was moved up several weeks on the schedule this year, so Westwood came back to defend, but acknowledged his mind is also on something big in two weeks.
"I've got one eye on the Masters, but I didn't fancy another two-week stint in the States and nothing beats winning for confidence," said Westwood, who is a former winner of this week's PGA Tour event in New Orleans. "I'm pleased with the way I'm hitting the ball, although my game is always a work in progress and there are a few things I'm working on at the moment."
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