Owen, Wall set Hoylake pace, Woods one-under

HOYLAKE, England, July 20 (Reuters) Britons Greg Owen and Anthony Wall upstaged the game's best players by firing five-under-par 67s on a calm day of low scoring at the 135th British Open today.

Another Briton, Graeme McDowell, was also five under after 13 holes and the trio forged one stroke clear of a congested leaderboard early in the opening round with former champions Ernie Els and Tom Lehman, plus Spaniard Sergio Garcia, among a group of nine tied for second place.

Determined to shake off a loss of form following a knee injury last season, South African Els wasted a chance to birdie the par-five last after being bunkered off the tee and had to settle for a 68.

Masters champion Phil Mickelson, eager to banish memories of his final-hole meltdown at last month's U.S. Open, mixed four birdies with an eagle and three bogeys to finish a further stroke back, along with eight others.

Overnight rain took some of the sting out of a Royal Liverpool layout baked rock-hard after weeks of unrelenting sunshine.

Defending champion Tiger Woods, starting later when the most of the moisture had gone, was one-under at the turn having dropped a shot at the first but found birdies on five and nine.

Els, champion at Muirfield in 2002, rattled up six birdies and two bogeys to make his best Open start since shooting a 66 at St.

Andrews in 2000.

''I didn't play the last hole very well but it's always nice to make a par-saving putt,'' the popular South African told reporters.

''I'll settle for four under. I'm swinging well and today was a pretty good score for me.

''It's the first round of a major championship and you definitely don't want to shoot yourself out of it the first day.

ENOUGH TROUBLE ''It's not the hardest course we've ever played because of the weather but there's enough trouble out there,'' added the world number eight, who was sidelined for four months at the end of last year after twisting his knee on a sailing holiday.

Els finished level with Garcia, Lehman, Jim Furyk, Australians Marcus Fraser and Mark Hensby, South Korea's SK Ho, Canada's Mike Weir and Mikko Ilonen of Finland.

Englishman Owen, who led the 2001 Open at Royal Lytham after 35 holes, reeled off six birdies and a bogey to set the initial pace with a round that looked better the longer the day went on.

''I was very calm out there and played really well,'' he said after picking up shots on four of the last six holes.

''I think I've learned to stay patient and just trust what I do.

If the golf gods are in my favour, then I'll be good enough to win.'' Wall, whose father is a London taxi cab driver, joined Owen at five under after being boosted by eagles at the 10th and 16th.

''The key here is to hit the fairways because there are birdie shots there,'' he said. ''But the bunkering here is as good as anywhere in the world and I think if you start to be too greedy, you will come a cropper.'' Spaniard Garcia, who tied for fifth in last year's Open championship at St. Andrews, was in upbeat mood after matching his lowest opening round at the Open.

''I'm pretty happy with it,'' he said after collecting two birdies over the last three holes. ''I feel that my putting is starting to come back and I putted nicely on the front nine.

''My game is not quite where I want it to be but it's getting there. It was a pretty comfortable day out there.'' The scheduled start of the 135th Open championship was put back by half an hour because of thunderstorms.

Reuters PKS DB2141