SEVILLE, Spain -- A change of scenery didn't help John Daly's struggling golf game.

Daly, playing in Spain for the first time in 16 years, shot a 3-over 75 Thursday in the first round of the Spanish Open on the European Tour and was 10 shots back of leader Martin Erlandsson, who carded a course-record 65.

The 595th-ranked Daly, who hasn't finished in the top 10 of a tournament in three years, started poorly with a bogey at the par-3 third and a double bogey at the next hole. Daly also had three bogeys over the last six holes to leave himself in a battle to make the weekend cut.

"I hit it good, but putted bad again," said Daly, who three-putted the par-3 17th. "It's the same stuff. I've had two years of this. I'm getting nothing out of it and it's frustrating."

Erlandsson ended his round at the Real Club de Golf de Sevilla course with birdies on the last three holes. The Swede led Spanish players Jordi Garcia and Ignacio Garrido by one shot, while Gary Clark of England trailed by two.

"Tomorrow's a fresh day, but I just have to keep playing the same way," Erlandsson said. "That's easy to say, but it's not so easy to do."

Defending champion Charl Schwartzel was nine back of Erlandsson after shooting a 74. No player has won back-to-back Spanish Open titles in 55 years.

The sun shone, but the big names did not in the opening round, as leader Erlandsson is ranked only 345th in the world, and his two closest challengers, Garrido and Garcia, are respectively ranked 350th and 1,102nd.

Recently married Colin Montgomerie, returning after a five-week layoff, hit back from two opening bogeys to shoot 70, but last week's winner Darren Clarke had to settle for a 72.

Montgomerie, with a target of two wins in the next two months to make his presence felt in the race for Ryder Cup places, said: "My job is to get back in the team and I am nowhere near yet."

Golf may be his job, but the Scot revealed the sport that most excites him is actually cricket.

"It's my son Cameron's 10th birthday today and he loves his cricket just like me," he said. "It's my favorite game -- forget this lark!"

Newlywedded bliss did not stop him displaying his displeasure when a spectator stood in the wrong place during his round, however. Montgomerie stared, but the man stared back and after quite some time it was actually the eight-time European No. 1 who yielded and turned his focus back to his next shot.

Clarke, who ended two and a half years years without a victory in Shanghai on Sunday, blamed mental fatigue and one treacherous green for his score.

"I didn't get much sleep again -- last week took more out of me than I realized," said the 39-year-old Ulsterman. "Mentally, I was not at the races. The game's fine, but my head's tired -- I made some poor decisions."

The green in question was the short 17th, where Clarke three-putted for bogey just after seeing Thomas Levet four-putt for a triple-bogey 6.

"It's like glass and it's on a hill. They've destroyed the green," said the Frenchman -- winner himself of the Andalucian Open only five weeks ago -- after dropping two more strokes on the last and signing for a 79.

Paul McGinley, another back from China, needed two birdies in the last three holes just to return a 74, the same score as Schwartzel, who is trying to become the first player to make a successful defense of the title since Max Faulkner in 1953.

Erlandsson did not make the journey out to the Far East because he suffers so badly from jet lag, and that paid dividends when he grabbed seven birdies, finishing with three in a row. The 34-year-old needed four attempts to earn a Tour card and after 124 events is still searching for his first victory.

Erlandsson's best finish was the 2005 Wales Open, where he tied for second behind Miguel Angel Jimenez, but the closest he has come was last season's Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.

A superb 66 made him the clubhouse leader for a long time on the final day, but in the end he had to settle for third place a shot behind Marc Warren and playoff loser Simon Wakefield.

Garrido was a member of Europe's 1997 Ryder Cup side and won the European Tour's PGA Championship five years ago, but he has had only six top-10 finishes since then. Garcia, like famous namesake Sergio, is from Castellon and he eagled the 517-yard 13th in his 66.

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