THE Celtic Manor Wales Open began in thrilling fashion this morning as the rain stayed away.

Former Open champion Paul Lawrie, who won at Newport in 2002 around the Wentwood Hills course, recovered from a woeful tee-shot at the par four tenth (his opening hole) to make an unlikely birdie, before picking up further shots at 15, 16 and 17.

Lawrie was leading the way at three under-par alongside Englishman David Lynn, with Denmark's Thomas Bjorn one stroke back on two under.

Englishman Lynn recovered from a bogey at the tenth to set the early pace, thanks to a flurry of birdies on 11, 13, 14 and 15 to move to three under par.

Several big names were hoping to take advantage of the relatively calm conditions, with players starting on the back nine particularly impressing, after yesterday's pro-am was disrupted by torrential rain,

The punishing greens around the Roman Road course seemed to have slowed slightly as a result of the weather and that seemed to galvanise the players.

Blackwood's Bradley Dredge (also starting on the back nine) recovered from a hooked tee-shot at the tenth to save par before making a birdie on eleven to move to one-under, although a bogey at 14 slowed his progress.

Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, who partners Dredge, also started with a par before making birdie at eleven.

2001 winner Paul McGinley's hopes of capturing another Wales Open title appeared to be fading fast. McGinley, playing with Bjorn and Lawrie, made bogey on 10 and 13 putting him at two over par, five strokes off the pace.

However, the Ryder Cup hero battled back and got to level par after birdies at 14 and 15. It was a similar story for England's David Howell.

Howell, who was paired with Dredge and Jimenez, hit a better tee-shot on 10 than either of his partners, but slipped up by making bogey, a trick he repeated at the tricky par three thirteenth.