SOMERSET WEST, South Africa, 16 January 2004 — Colin Montgomerie made light of an unusually early start to his season by shooting a solid 68 in the opening round of the South African Open yesterday.

The 40-year-old Briton was four strokes behind early leader Brett Rumford of Australia, who fired a record-equaling eight-under-par 64 in benign conditions at the par-72 Erinvale Course near Cape Town.

On a day when the expected wind failed to blow, scoring for the early starters was generally low, with Welshman Stephen Dodd carding a 65 and three players, including South Africa’s Hennie Otto, on 66.

Seven-times European No. 1 Montgomerie, using new clubs and a different caddie as well as starting his season a few weeks earlier than usual, recorded five birdies and a bogey.

“I was struggling a bit on the front nine — I was a little anxious really with a new caddie, shoes, bag, ball and clubs obviously and was just feeling my way,” he said.

“I relaxed on the back on the back nine and shot four under, which puts me in a good position for tomorrow.

“The weather plays a huge role here, we were fortunate this morning.”

Rumford’s round was faultless with eight birdies and 12 pars. He started on the par-four 10th and comfortably birdied the hole after hitting his approach to a foot.

He added birdies on the par-five 13th and the par-four 15th for an outward nine of 33 before blitzing the course on the front nine.

A string of four consecutive birdies from the par-five third to the par-four sixth ensured that he edged ahead of the field.

On the third he hit the green in two with a five-iron approach but needed two putts for the birdie before hitting his seven-iron approach to three-feet on the par-four fourth.

The par-four fifth saw his lofted wedge approach end a foot from the hole for an easy birdie. Perhaps his shot of the day came on the 482-yard sixth where his three-iron second shot ended six-feet from the cup for a comfortable birdie.

“I putted extremely well today, but perhaps my key holes were my 10th and 11th (the first and second) where I holed par putts from 10 and six feet, which kept my momentum going,” Rumford said.

England’s Lee Westwood was two-over through six holes with playing partner and defending champion Trevor Immelman on even par.