Bristol's Chris Wood found himself the victim of a strong afternoon wind as he posted a one-over par 71 in the first round of the KLM Open in the Netherlands yesterday.

The 21-year-old began the round with two consecutive birdies at the first two holes.

But, as the wind off the North Sea began to show its teeth, that would be as good as it got for Wood.

He followed those birdies with 12 straight pars before taking a double-bogey five at the 162-yard 15th to take him back to level par.

And things moved in the wrong direction again at the final hole, where he bogeyed the 396-yard par four into a really strong wind.

His score left him seven shots off the lead held jointly by Ireland's Paul McGinley and Scot Gary Orr, who took advantage of calm early conditions.

Both fired six-under-par 64s to be one ahead of a group which includes defending champion Darren Clarke and Peter Lawrie.

Among those who also suffered in the wind was Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie.

Without a top-10 finish for almost 14 months, Montgomerie crashed to a six-over-par 76 that left him near the rear of a field which does not contain any of the world's top 50.

Six of those strokes came on Kennemer's 562-yard seventh, but that was almost a triumph compared to what happened to Dutch amateur Willem Vork and France's Anthony Snobeck. They took 13 and 10 respectively.

While the eight-time European No 1 faces the near-certainty of a third successive missed cut, McGinley, himself captain of the Britain and Ireland side in next month's Vivendi Trophy, has high hopes of re-igniting his career. The 42-year-old has also fallen outside the world's top 200 and is a lowly 130th on this year's money list.

"The season's been flat," said McGinley, runner-up to Clarke on the same course 12 months ago. "I've not played well enough – no excuses."

His day promised to be better when he stood seven under and three clear after 12 holes, having already made five birdies and a 20-foot eagle putt.

But the 2005 Volvo Masters champion – that was his last victory – bogeyed the short eighth, his 17th, and Orr caught him by also playing the back nine in 30. The Helensburgh golfer, also 42, has to go back to 2000 for his last success and has not had things easy since then.

Orr lost his Tour card five years ago, then suffered recurring back problems and had to fight for his future again at the start of last season.

Finishing joint second in the European Open in May brought him back to the fore and at 129th in the world he is now Scotland's highest-ranked player – nearly 100 places ahead of Montgomerie.

Northern Irishman Clarke grabbed seven birdies and felt he would have been out in front but for "a couple of stupid schoolboy errors".

The first plugged in a bunker and the second led to him taking a penalty drop away from a bush.

Lawrie came back from an opening bogey for a matching 65 and Australian Matthew Millar and Spain's Jorge Campillo then joined them.

Double Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal, suffering from more rheumatic pains, was two under with one to go, but double-bogeyed the 418-yard ninth just like Montgomerie did – and just like Welshman Bradley Dredge did after reaching six under.