Defending champion Tiger Woods, meanwhile, declared himself delighted with his new driver in an opening round of 67, although it was putts of 40 and 30 feet on the 15th and 18th that enabled the world number one to be on the heels of the pacesetters.

Garcia will not be carried away by his start. He was second after one round of the Masters in April and finished 28th, then led the NEC Invitational with a 64 in August and dropped to 30th.

But to keep a bogey off his card on one of the toughest tests of the season should give his confidence a huge boost.

“I’ve just got to keep working hard and wait for the moment – it doesn’t come overnight,” said Garcia, who decided to make swing changes at the start of the year. “It’s difficult to stay patient, but it feels a lot better now. “

Outscoring playing partner Retief Goosen by eight the European Ryder Cup star had birdies at the second, sixth and ninth to turn in 32, pitched to 10 feet on the long 12th and then holed from slightly longer at the 470-yard 17th.

Ignacio Garrido could have made it a Spanish one-two at the top, but standing four under on the final tee he double-bogeyed it, missing the fairway and then three-putting.

That came just after Woods had produced the largest cheer of the day from a disappointingly small crowd – nothing like the numbers that watched the event at Mount Juliet in Ireland last year and will do so again next season.

Down in a lowly 148th place in fairways hit on the US Tour this season Woods went off in search of a remedy during his month-long lay-off and hopes he has found it with his Nike prototype driver.

It did not totally behave itself in terms of accuracy, but no fewer than 11 of his blows were measured in excess of 300 yards and that allowed him to get away with some of his waywardness.

His first bogey did not come until the 17th, but the response on the next made lunch taste a whole lot better.

Woods said of his closing putt: “It went in pretty hard. I would have had an eight-footer or so coming back.

“I hit the driver great and it was nice to see a high draw back. I’m five to seven yards longer with it as well.

“Because I’ve not played for a month I was nervous on the first tee and the course is playing very difficult. The fairways are a bit on the narrow side and the rough is up.”

Montgomerie also birdied the last, his approaching hitting the pin and rebounding 15 feet, but for the 40-year-old Scot it meant a four over 74 and he commented: “It was a hard day. Unfortunately I didn’t drive the ball well over the front nine, but drove it better coming in.

“You must finish on the fairway and I didn’t for the first nine holes. I did well to come back and a 74 is better than 75.

“It’s been very much a similar story of late.”

He has made 12 early exits from tournaments this season – the same as in his seven-year reign as European number one.

Darren Clarke, winner of the NEC world title in Ohio, was going well at two under with six to play, but then bogeyed the next two, while Lee Westwood, who had his second win in five weeks on Sunday at St Andrews, was one under after seven, but then had three successive bogeys.

Phillip Price and Padraig Harrington both gave what they described as “battling” performances for rounds of 70 and 71 respectively, while Scot Alastair Forsyth and Londoner Brian Davis also returned 71 and Ian Poulter had to settle for a 73.

European Order of Merit leader Ernie Els four-putted from only 15 feet on the fifth for a double bogey six, but finished with a 71, while Justin Rose was on the same mark with four to go, Paul Casey and David Howell three over after 10 and 11 respectively and Yorkshire’s Mark Foster – who qualified off the South African money list – six over at the turn.