Ryder Cup player Ross Fisher made a nightmare start to the Reale Seguros Spanish Open in Seville on Thursday.
The 31-year-old former European Open champion, whose world ranking has dropped from 17th to 131st in the last two and a half years, bogeyed the first four holes and then had a triple-bogey eight on the 514-yard fifth.
At seven over par, Fisher was already 10 strokes behind Spain's Pablo Larrazabal, who birdied the 11th, 12th and 17th for a one-shot lead over Dutchman Joost Luiten, Swede Michael Jonzon and France's Benjamin Hebert.
Brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari, team-mates of Fisher at Celtic Manor in 2010, were both one under, but Scot Paul Lawrie managed only a three-over 39 for the back nine.
Lawrie, who will go second in the Ryder Cup race by winning and was playing alongside European captain Jose Maria Olazabal, birdied the 13th and 16th, both par fives, but double-bogeyed the 15th and 18th and dropped another shot on the short 17th.
Olazabal also turned three over and then let another stroke go at the 398-yard first.
It was wet and windy for the opening morning of a championship celebrating its 100th anniversary, and when Larrazabal bogeyed the 432-yard 18th, his ninth, he slipped back alongside Jonzon and Francesco Molinari on two under.
The Italian's brother double-bogeyed the 18th, however, to be only one over, while Fisher did at least birdie the sixth to improve to six over.
With Larrazabal falling away, it was Molinari coping best with the conditions.
A pitch to six feet at the long fifth helped him to move to three under and one in front of Jonzon. Only nine of the 78 players - half the field had yet to tee off - were under par at that stage.
