Colin Montgomerie's hopes of starting 2006 with a win at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Golf Championship were not helped by an unconvincing opening round.

The European Order of Merit winner revealed he is riding the crest of a wave and that his self-confidence is at a 10-year high. But his up-and-down performance left the Scot six shots off the early pace set by South African Keith Horne.

Starting on the back nine, Montgomerie birdied the 11th, but dropped a shot at the next hole to drop back to level par.  And the 42-year-old then bogeyed two of his next three holes to drop to two over at the turn on a blustery day in the United Arab Emirates.

He fought back, though, with three birdies in four holes before ending his round with a bogey to complete an unsatisfactory day's play for the eight-time Order of Merit winner.

Montgomerie's playing partners and fellow members of the world's top 10, Vijay Singh and Sergio Garcia, experienced very different days.  Singh was a model of consistency, his birdies at the 10th and 18th bookending a run of pars, before birdies at the fourth and seventh saw him card a tidy four-under round of 68.

Garcia, meanwhile, was the complete opposite to the Fijian, his two birdies at the first two holes spoiled by three dropped shots to leave him one over at the turn.  But he notched two birdies at the second, fourth and sixth to see him at minus two overnight.

Damien McGrane, at two under, heads the Irish challenge while Peter Lawrie (+2) and Gary Murphy (+1) have a long way of their first rounds to go.

The little-known Horne quietly set about compiling a blemish-free round of 66 which included three birdies on the front nine and three on the back.

Horne is two clear of Singh and Thongchai Jaidee, himself one shot ahead of Henrik Stenson, the Swede who beat the Thai in the final singles match to wrap up victory for Europe over Asia at the Royal Trophy two weeks ago, and South Africa's Charl Schwartzel.

Elsewhere, Englishmen Ian Poulter and Paul Casey, who were in a group with crowd-puller John Daly, enduring difficult rounds.  Casey's dropped shot at the 16th dropped him back to par after recording a birdie at his first hole, but three birdies in a row moved him to three under and a place on the leaderboard.

He then threw that away with three successive bogeys, a birdie and then a final bogey to end on level par.

Poulter's first blemish after a strong first nine holes came at the fourth, and he followed it up with further dropped shots at the fifth and seventh to card a 72, the same score as Daly after an erratic display from the American.