Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano admitted he is surprised by how well he is playing after a seven-under-par 65 gave him a share of the lead in the first round of the Ballantine's Championship.

The Spaniard shares the lead with New Zealand's Mark Brown, the pair having also finished second and third respectively in last week's Volvo China Open in Beijing.

On that occasion Fernandez-Castano missed out on the win by just one shot, giving him his second runners-up finish after losing a play-off to Michael Hoey in Portugal earlier in the year.

Despite having not yet tasted victory in 2009, two second places, one further top-10 finish in Qatar and a strong start today has left the 28-year-old pleasantly surprised with his form.

"I'm a little bit surprised I have to say. The last couple of weeks have been great and coming out here and shooting 65 in the first round, you can't ask for any better," he said.

"I'm not expecting a bad round. Sooner or later it will come. This game is like that. Sometimes you have a feeling like you are on top of the mountain and you drop. That's golf.

"I'm just very happy with the way I'm handling myself on the course. My caddie is helping me a lot, too. I'm just thinking one shot at a time and enjoying a solid moment."

Both Fernandez-Castano and Brown took advantage of the par-five 10th, where 11 players carded eagles.

For Brown that was the first hole of the day, a great start which was followed by his sole bogey of the day on the 14th and six birdies.

Fernandez-Castano also carded six birdies and one bogey to go with his eagle.

Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee also eagled the 10th and fired four consecutive birdies from the second to sit one shot behind the leaders alongside Korea's Kang Kyung-Nam and Robert-Jan Derksen of Holland.

England's Robert Dinwiddie, whose round of five birdies and an eagle was soured by bogeys at the seventh and 11th,

joined Italy's Alessandro Tadini and American Jason Knutzon on five under.

World number nine Henrik Stenson and Ernie Els remain firmly in contention thanks to matching rounds of 68.

South African Els was surprised with the good scores after poor weather had been forecasted but believes the players may not be so lucky in the next few days.

" I think today was a beautiful weather day. There was no wind and you could keep the ball in play pretty easily," Els said.

"But if we had wind like we did yesterday you'll see the golf course totally change and I think you'll see that in the coming days with the rain and wind coming.

"You'll see big changes. If you miss fairways here, you're going to get in trouble."

Last year's winner Graeme McDowell may welcome a change in the weather after an opening 76, 11 shots off the pace.

"I'm shocked and stunned. I just didn't play very well. I drove it all over the place. It was just a bad morning in the office. I didn't feel quite at the races this morning," McDowell said.

"I've got no complaints. The course was there for the taking. It was in good condition, the greens were a little elusive. I didn't really putt too well at all."

Collated first-round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

65 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Mark Brown (Nzl)

66 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Kyung-nam Kang (Kor), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)

67 Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Robert Dinwiddie, Jason Knutzon (USA)

68 Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Chih-bing Lam (Sin), Chawalit Plaphol (Tha), Brett Rumford (Aus), Soon-sang Hong (Kor), Scott Barr (Aus), Ernie Els (Rsa), Dae-hyun Kim (Kor), Hyung-tae Kim (Jpn), Wook-Soon Kang (Kor), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Henrik Stenson (Swe)

69 Damien McGrane, Ho-sung Choi (Kor), Branden Grace (Rsa), Danny Willett, Simon Dyson, Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), A-Shun Wu (Chn), Pablo Martin (Spa), Wen-hong Lin (Chn), Gaurav Ghei (Ind), Anton Haig (Rsa), Mardan Mamat (Sin), Seve Benson, Fred Couples (USA), Sung-hoon Kang (Kor), Hyung-sung Kim (Kor)

70 Wei Chih Lu (Tha), Andrew Tschudin (Aus), Peter Lawrie, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Ted Oh (Kor), Joong Kyung Mo (Kor), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Zane Scotland, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Gareth Maybin, In-hoi Hur (Kor) , Scott Drummond, Rhys Davies, Kane Webber (USA), Richard Finch, Iain Steel (Mal), Inder Van Weerelt (Ned)

71 Seung-yul Noh (Kor), Ake Nilsson (Rsa), Yong-jin Shin (Kor), Klas Eriksson (Swe), Unho Park (Aus), Takao Nogami (Jpn), Wil Besseling (Ned), Prom Meesawat (Tha), Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Markus Brier (Aut), Jong Yul Suk (Kor), Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Lee Westwood, Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Nick Dougherty, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Chris Rodgers, Rick Kulacz (Aus), Gwang-Soo Choi (Kor), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Barry Lane

72 Sang-ho Choi (Kor), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Graeme Storm, Johan Edfors (Swe), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Myung-ho Kwon (Kor), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Anthony Kang (USA), Artemio-hiromasa Murakami (Phi), Federico Colombo (Ita), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Wade Ormsby (Aus), Seung Ho Lee (Kor), Dae-Sub Kim (Kor), Do-kyu Park (Kor), David Gleeson (Aus), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Stuart Manley, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Andrew Dodt (Aus), Lee Sung (Kor), Young-soo Park (Kor), Peter O'Malley (Aus), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)

73 Ben Leong (Mal), Somkiat Sri-sanga (Tha), Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Simon Griffiths, David Frost (Rsa), Peter Hanson (Swe), Scott Hend (Aus), Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Digvijay Singh (Ind), Richard Bland, Ki joon Song (Aus), Wi-joong Kim (Kor), Wen-Tang Lin (Tai), Scott Strange (Aus), Marcus Both (Aus), David Dixon, Sang-moon Bae (Kor), Richard Green (Aus), Paul McGinley

74 Won-Kyung Heo (Kor), Bryan Saltus (USA), Frankie Minoza (Phi), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Kyung-sool Kang (Kor), Mars Pucay (Phi), Heung-chul Joo (Kor) , Andrew Mckenzie (Aus), Guido Van Der Valk (Ned), James Kamte (Rsa)

75 Sang-woo Jeon (Kor), Do-hoon Kim (Kor) , Chris Wood, Darren Beck (Aus), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Terry Pilkadaris (Aus), Chang-kyu Hong (USA), Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha), Tae hee Lee (Kor), Keith Horne (Rsa), Angelo Que (Phi)

76 Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Jonathan Caldwell, Graeme McDowell

77 Ji-Ho Jung (Kor), Tony Carolan (Aus), Jong-koo Yoo (Kor) , Joon-eob Son (Kor)

79 Mitchell Brown (Aus), Antti Ahokas (Fin), Adam Blyth (Aus)

80 Airil Rizman (Mal), Kook-hwan Kim (Kor)

81 Gavin Flint (Aus)