Golf:Rory McIlroy made a solid start to the 52nd Korea Open by opening with a level par 71 at Woo Jung Hills Country Club to be four shots off the first round lead shared by five players.

The 20-year-old started on the back nine and struggled to get to grips with the Chonan layout, some 90 minutes from South Korea’s capital Seoul. He reached the turn in two-over but picked up a couple of birdies on his inward half to sign for a level par round.

South Koreans Kim Dae-sub, Kang Kyung-sool, Kim Dae-hyun, Park Boo-won and Australian Michael Wright share the lead after carding opening 67s.

“It’s a difficult course, really quite tight so level par is not a bad start. I did well to get things back to even,” said McIlroy, who was joined on level par by New Zealand’s young prodigy Danny Lee.

Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa, who last week won the Fujisankei Classic, shot a one-under-par 70 after firing five birdies against two bogeys and a double bogey.

“It takes a bit of adjusting playing here in Korea,” he said. “It’s an okay start and I have plenty of time to work myself into position.

“The conditions are different and I really need to work on my feel around the greens.”