GRAEME McDowell turned on the style at Celtic Manor yet again today, starting the Saab Wales Open with a four-under-par 67.

The defending champion and Ryder Cup hero returned to the scene of those triumphs keen to find form with his US Open title defence only two weeks away now.

An eagle at the driveable 15th - his fifth - and then birdies at the sixth and seventh provided a timely boost after missing the halfway cut in last week's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

South African Keith Horne led the way with a seven-under 64, but McDowell was handily placed in joint third spot on the course where he finished 64-63 last year.

Horne is making his debut in the event and arrived on Tuesday exhausted from 36 holes of trying - unsuccessfully - to qualify at Walton Heath for the US Open.

But he came home in a brilliant five-under 30 and denied television suggestions that his bunker shot on the driveable par-four 15th was a shank.

"It was a hard shot and it just went straight right, but it was not a shank,’’ said the 29-year-old from Durban, who did not turn professional until five years ago after a spell in the army and then four years at university studying labour law.

Swede Peter Hanson, McDowell's playing partner and Ryder Cup team-mate, tucked in just behind with a 65, while Irishman Damien McGrane and Australian Daniel Gaunt were four under.

Two more members of Colin Montgomerie's 2010 Ryder Cup side are in the field. Miguel Angel Jimenez was among the later starters - as was Montgomerie himself - but England's Ross Fisher came back from two early bogeys to be one under with two to play.

Hanson had four successive birdies from the 14th and then more on the front nine, but there were also bogeys at the 13th and eighth.

McDowell said: "Overall I'm very happy with the way I played. I went a little cold with the putter in the middle, but I'm really flighting the ball correctly and can see my way round the course.

"It's definitely been a good hunting ground for me and I'm hoping to continue that. It's good, it's positive and I know I can go low here.’’ Fisher parred the last - actually the short 10th - for a one under 70 as he continued his bid to climb back into the world's top 50 and so claim a spot in the US Open.

Montgomerie bogeyed the first three holes and playing partner Jimenez had a double bogey on the 433-yard fifth, but Frenchman Victor Dubuisson made a flying start.

After birdies at the 11th and 14th he matched McDowell's eagle at the next and joined him on four under - with 12 holes still to play.