Alexander Levy leads the Shanghai Open after the first round after carding 65.

The Frenchman leads by one shot after shooting seven birdies in his seven-under-par opening round. Fellow countryman Romain Wattel is tied for second on six under with Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts and Argentine Emiliano Grillo.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell is a shot further back on five under.

Englishman Oliver Wilson, who won his first European Tour event at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the start of the month has enjoyed a solid start on four under par, where he is joined by Jamie Donaldson and Thomas Bjorn, along with three others.

Elsewhere and it’s been a poor start for Justin Rose and Ian Poulter. Despite hitting a triple-bogey on the 13th, Rose climbed back up the leaderboard to finish on level par, whereas Poulter struggled with five bogies, to finish the round on a two-over par 74.

The best shot of the day came from Italian Edoardo Molinari, when he carded a hole-in-one at the fourth. Despite there being a brand new sports car as the prize for the same at the 17th, the 33-year-old had to settle for a radio-controlled model and a magnum of champagne.

On winning his prize he said: “Now I have the little car, I want to win the big one.”