Matching something Tiger Woods and Colin Montgomerie have done on a golf course would normally delight England's David Lynn - but not what he did in Munich today.

At seven-under par after 14 holes Lynn led the BMW International Open. But then, putting from off the green for eagle on the next, he sent it off the other side into a water hazard and finished with a double-bogey seven.

"I felt like putting a noose round my neck and hanging myself up," said the Stoke golfer, who finished the day one behind Australian Peter O'Malley, South African Anton Haig, Singapore's Mardan Mamat and Argentinian Rafa Echenique.

Montgomerie putted into a lake during the Cannes Open over a decade ago and Woods even more famously did it during the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama.

Lynn, with just one European Tour win in 263 events going back 12 years, added: "I wanted to chip the ball, but there was no grass under the ball, so I had to putt through 20 feet of fringe and just hit it too hard."

He then three-putted the eighth, but came back with a birdie to be in a tie for fifth. Lynn was far from alone, however, in messing up a promising round.

Paul Casey reached five-under par, but double-bogeyed the 16th after his pitch spun back in the water and three-putted the par-five last for another bogey.

While he signed for a two-under 70 — the same as Montgomerie and 50-year-old Bernhard Langer — former Open champion John Daly fell back from four-under to level par after double bogeys on the 14th and 16th.

For the second of those Daly, winner of the title in 2001, went in the pond like Casey and after placing the ball by the side it then rolled back in.

Gary Murphy and Graeme McDowell are best of the Irish on one-under-par after rounds of 71 and the latter feels he is well-placed despite a poorer showing than usual.

"There's plenty of room for improvement, but nobody has really gone crazy," McDowell said after his first round. "That was one of my more scrappy performances lately, but a couple of low ones and I'll be there or thereabouts."

Fellow Ulsterman Rory McIlroy is level par after rescuing a round that looked to be going rapidly downhill at one stage.

The teenager started on the 10th with a birdie but the next and the 16th on either side of a double-bogey on the 14th.

Three birdies, on the 18th, fourth and ninth, made for a more respectable finish, while Peter Lawrie is one-over after a 73 with Damien McGrane a shot further back.

Collated first round scores
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irishin bold, par 72)

66 Anton Haig (Rsa), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Mardan Mamat (Sin), Peter O'Malley (Aus)

67 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), David Lynn, Mark Foster, Thomas Aiken (Rsa)

68 Alexander Noren (Swe), Benn Barham, Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Graeme Storm, Andrew McLardy (Rsa)

69 Retief Goosen (Rsa), Anders Hansen (Den), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), David Howell, Tino Schuster (Ger), Matthew Millar (Aus), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Carl Suneson (Spa), Iain Pyman, Richard Finch, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Thomas Levet (Fra)

70 Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Ross Fisher, Pelle Edberg (Swe), John Bickerton, Simon Wakefield, Pedro Linhart (Spa), Niclas Fasth (Swe), Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Bernhard Langer (Ger), Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Colin Montgomerie, Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Paul Casey, Gareth Paddison (Nzl), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Barry Lane

71 Francesco Molinari (Ita), James Kingston (Rsa), David Griffiths, Oliver Fisher, Joel Sjoholm (Swe), Max Kramer (Aut), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Markus Brier (Aut), Peter Fowler (Aus), Juan Abbate (Arg), Garry Houston, Graeme McDowell, Shiv Kapur (Ind), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Stephan jr. Gross (Ger), Gary Murphy, Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)

72 Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Gary Orr, Michael Campbell (Nzl), Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Mark Brown (USA), Sion Bebb, John Daly (USA), Peter Hanson (Swe), Rory McIlroy, Stephen Dodd, Tom Whitehouse, Michael Jonzon (Swe), Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Benoit Teilleria (Fra), Edoardo Molinari (Ita)

73 Luis Claverie (Spa), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Peter Lawrie, Anthony Wall, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Bradley Dredge, Martin Wiegele (Aut), Joakim Backstrom (Swe), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Hennie Otto (Rsa), Henrik Nystrom (Swe), Magnus Carlsson (Swe), Paolo Terreni (Ita), Stuart Manley, Scott Drummond, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Sam Walker, Lee S James, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Ariel Canete (Arg), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)

74 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Damien McGrane, David Frost (Rsa), Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Robert Rock, Marc Warren, Alastair Forsyth, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Zane Scotland, Niklas Lemke (Swe), Phillip Price, Julio Zapata (Arg), Alex Cejka (Ger), Stephen Gallacher, Paul Lawrie, Dennis Kupper (Ger), Marcel Haremza (Ger), Florian Praegant (Aut)

75 Peter Whiteford, Peter Baker, Andrew Coltart, Marcel Siem (Ger), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Simon Dyson, Paul Broadhurst, Marco Soffietti (Ita), Simon Khan, Christoph Gunther (Ger), Sam Little, James Kamte (Rsa)

76 Marc Farry (Fra), Richard Bland, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), David Drysdale, Sven Struver (Ger), Phillip Archer, Pablo Martin (Spa)

77 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Leif Westerberg (Swe), Richard Porter (Ger), Gary Birch jr (Ger)

78 David Dixon, Carlos Rodiles (Spa)

80 David Carter, Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Sean Einhaus (Ger)

81 Miles Tunnicliff

83 Rick Kulacz (Aus)