Ferrie, 114th in Europe and 326th in the world before his victory, sank an 18-foot putt at the 455-yard 10th.

Els, who finally committed to playing the event only yesterday, and Miguel Angel Jimenez, the third member of the group, both had to settle for par fours.

All three then missed the green at the difficult short 10th and, while Ferrie and Els did well to save par, Jimenez did even better, chipping in from much the more difficult spot of the three.

At one-under he and Ferrie were two behind the early pacesetter, Hertfordshire’s European Tour rookie David Griffiths. He birdied three of the first four holes to be one ahead of Liverpudlian Nick Dougherty.

Ferrie was the player to take advantage of Thomas Bjorn’s horrendous closing 86 at the K Club.

But the Dane, who collapsed from three clear of the field to 33rd place after a seven at the 10th and an 11 at the 17th, has already tasted success since.

Bjorn, one of today’s later starters, won £400 for victory at the eve-of-tournament pro-am, his team of four combining for a 14-under-par 57 to pip Adam Scott and Eduardo Romero.

Australian Scott failed to get up and down from off the 11th green this morning and slipped to one over par, while playing partner Luke Donald began with three pars and Lee Westwood with a birdie, then a bogey.