England's Roger Winchester, whose golf career took such a nosedive that he had to sell his home and felt like giving up the game, continued to pick himself up off the floor yesterday.

Delighted just to be back on the European tour he left in 1993 because of lack of success, the 31-year-old from Devon was even more happy after starting the £575,000 Heineken Classic at The Vines in Perth with a seven under par 65.

He goes into the second round level with world number five Ernie Els and only one behind Swedish leader Jarmo Sandelin, whose 64 was only one shot outside Padraig Harrington's course record, set in 1997.

Harrington and John McHenry both shot 71s yesterday to lie seven shots off the pace. Harrington had three birdies and two bogeys, but McHenry an up-and-down round, with six birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey.

Harrington was one under par when he played the par four 12th. His tee shot landed in a bunker, but his line of sight was blocked by a sponsor's sign affixed to a nearby tree. A lengthy discussion then took place with rules officials.

"I was pretty erratic off the tee on the back nine compared to the front nine and at the 12th hole I thought I would be given a line of sight ruling. My ball was in the bunker and level with the sign and within what I thought was a club length, but the ruling means they actually measure the distance at an angle from your ball, so I was a club length and four inches away.

"It did make a hell of a lot of difference and even though it was only four inches, that's the rule and I had to live with it." Harrington finished the hole in sensational fashion with a chip shot from 25 yards out for a birdie.

McHenry was forced to take an "unplayable" when his second shot finished under a bush at the par five third hole.

"It's a start but I'm just getting back into the swing of things. I haven't done myself any harm, so hopefully this is my poor round and I can build on that," he said.

Sandelin grabbed no fewer than nine birdies in a round he rated one of the best of his life.

However, Els is an even firmer favourite for the first prize of £108,000 after collecting seven birdies himself.

Winner two weeks ago of the South African PGA championship, Els is keen to keep pace with 59-shooter David Duval - a double champion on the US Tour already.

"It seems like every year there's a player who comes out and plays really well," he said. "In the last 18 months David has taken the lead, but I'm playing well again. I'm really pleased."

Winchester made his move with five successive birdies around the turn and then closed with another.

Comparisons between him and Nick Faldo were inevitably made in 1985 when he won the English amateur title at the age of 18 - a decade after Faldo did the same - and he took them a stage further.

"I tried to model myself on Faldo," he said. "David Leadbetter became my coach when I was at college in Florida and I used to play with Nick a bit.

"But I completely lost my way. I got far too technical and there were times when I wanted to give up because I was so confused with what I was doing.

"It was terrible financially too - it still is. I had a house in Wimbledon that I had to sell because I couldn't afford the mortgage and right now I'm renting a room in a house in London for £40 a week."

Ian Woosnam, winner in 1996 and second last year, is already seven shots behind - and Sam Torrance is 14 adrift after needing pain-killers for a recurring shoulder injury.