Former Ryder Cup player Thomas Levet made a dream start to the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles by holing in one with his very first shot of the event.

The Frenchman, 39 next week, began on the back nine and sank his five-iron at the 208-yard 10th. It instantly made him joint leader with compatriot Jean-Francois Remesy and Spaniard Luis Claverie.

Levet, a member of the winning European side in 2004 and runner-up in the Open two years earlier, is rebuilding his career this season after seven months of sheer agony suffering a severe form of vertigo that left him wondering at times if he would ever play again.

"I was losing my balance 100 times a day," he said. "I couldn't hit a shot. I couldn't look at the ball to start with. They initially told me it was going to take between three months and two years to cure. It took seven months, so I was lucky.

"It was the same kind of treatment that they use for Parkinson's. I took the pills for one month and they calmed down my nervous system so that my brain didn't get the wrong signals."

Levet finished a lowly 184th on the 2007 Order of Merit and kept his exemption only by virtue of his place in the top 40 of the career money list. He is currently 79th this season and was joint third in the KLM Open in Holland on Sunday.

Levet was playing just behind defending champion Paul Casey and Darren Clarke, two of his teammates at Oakland Hills three years ago. They both had to settle for par threes on the hole which saw Levet's ace.