Worksop-born Westwood has won tournaments on every continent

England's Lee Westwood shot six birdies to sit two shots behind leader Fabrizio Zanotti after day one of the South African Open at Pearl Valley.

Paraguayan Zanotti, whose highest European Tour position was 12th at May's Italian Open, carded nine birdies and a bogey to finish on eight under.

He leads by one shot from Sweden's Oskar Henningsson, with a group of players together one shot behind.

They include England's Ross McGowan and Scotland's Richie Ramsay.

Early pace-setter McGowan recorded a bogey-free round, which included four birdies and an eagle on the par-five fifth, a drastic improvement from his opening-day effort in the 2007 event that saw him start with an 82 on his way to missing the cut.

"Last year I got caught up by the wind on the Thursday morning," he said. "I shot an 82 then and I guess this has evened it out nicely.

"I think I hit 17 greens here today. So tee-to-green, I just kept it in play and let the putter do the work.

606: DEBATE I really think the guy deserves massive amounts of credit for how he has turned his game around. I think sometimes we forget just how good he was (world number four, 20-odd worldwide wins) Digbert

"It's nice to get off to a good start. It's been a few tournaments since I've had a good first round. It's nice to get one under the belt and hopefully I can carry it on for the rest of the week."

Ramsay, the 2006 US amateur champion, made up for two dropped shots with an eagle at the par-five fifth on his way to an impressive round of 66.

Four-time champion Ernie Els and two-time winner Tim Clark were among a group of four players to finish on five under par.

Henrik Stenson, who comes into the competition after back-to-back wins at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup and the Nedbank Golf Challenge, ended his day on two under par along with Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy.

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