Leopard Creek has changed spots for Martin

After winning the title on 17 under par in 2009 and then on 11 under last December, the Spaniard opened with a nine over 81 on the same Leopard Creek course.

With only two of the 156-strong field scoring worse, it left Martin 17 strokes behind the joint leaders, England’s Seve Benson and South African Jbe Kruger.

The first amateur to win a European Tour event – that came in the 2007 Portuguese Open – the Malaga golfer has not survived a halfway cut since he was fourth in Sweden in July.

He began with a double bogey six and was three over at the turn, he then triple-bogeyed the 11th, double-bogeyed the next and finished with a bogey six.

Benson, in contrast, produced the lowest round of his Tour career with an eight-under 64 as he began his bid to avoid a return to the qualifying school next month.

The 25-year-old, down at 163rd on the money list and needing to win to secure his card for next season, was already three under when he started for home and had five more birdies in six holes.

Hull’s Richard Finch and Sheffield’s Neil Cheetham shot one-over-par rounds of 73.

Padraig Harrington felt an early eagle was the key to a fine opening round as the Irishman got the defence of his Iskandar Johor title off to an excellent start with a 64 that left him one behind leader Joost Luiten when play was suspended for the day due to electrical storms at Horizon Hills Golf and Country Club in Malaysia.

Starting at the 10th, Harrington parred his opening three holes before chipping in for a three at the 13th. Sheffield’s Danny Willett opened with a two-under-par round of 69 and Harrogate’s John Parry who was four over par through 13.

Tiger Woods suffered the biggest match-play defeat of his life but it was still the Americans who began the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne much the better.

Woods and Steve Stricker, hammered by a cup record-equalling 7&6 margin by Adam Scott and KJ Choi, were the only United States pair to lose in the opening foursomes.

Thanks to two late fightbacks for vital half-points Fred Couples’s side took a 4-2 lead as they began their bid for a fourth successive win over the Internationals.

Woods was inevitably the centre of attention – and not so much because he was a controversial wild card pick for the match after crashing outside the world’s top 50.

By facing Scott, of course, he also came up against his former caddie Steve Williams, whose fury at being sacked earlier this summer spilled into a racist comment two weeks ago.