General / Editor / 23 March 2007 /

Henrik Stenson felt conditions in Miami favoured the Europeans as he shot a 67 to sit joint-top of the leaderboard after the first round of the WGC-CA Championship.

The talented Swede picked up seven birdies during his opening round, finishing five-under along with Australian Robert Allenby.

The pair are a shot better off than Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, while American Charles Howell III, Aaron Baddeley of Australia and Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal completed the first 18 holes in three-under par.

Stenson has been in superb form this season and claimed the year's first WGC tournament - the Accenture Match Play Championship - back in February, and he was happy with the way he played at Doral, especially on and around the greens.

He said: "The swing was not 100%, but my short game and putting were on and I managed to take the chances when I got them."

And the 30-year-old felt that the blustery conditions played into the hands of the Europeans on day one of the Florida event.

He added: "Europe has been producing a lot of good players and maybe the conditions we were playing in were more in our favour - I guess we might be a little bit more used to playing in windy and tough conditions."

South African Ernie Els is well-placed at -2, along with Aussie star Rod Pampling and Jim Furyk, while Tiger Woods carded a 71, to sit on one-under, along with Spaniard Sergio Garcia.

European Ryder Cup stars Luke Donald (+2) and Colin Montgomerie (+4) did not fare so well, while Phil Mickelson, Kiwi Michael Campbell and South African Retief Goosen shot 77s and are in real danger of missing the cut.

Despite sitting four shots off the pace Woods is the 3.85 favourite to win the tournament with Stenson available at 6.6 and Els trading at 11.5.

Allenby is on offer at 12, while Furyk and Howell III trade at 15 and 19 respectively.

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