VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) -- Paul McGinley boosted his chances of a fourth consecutive Ryder Cup appearance Thursday with a 7-under 65 in the first round of the BMW PGA Championship. The $9.5 million event is the flagship tournament on the European Tour and is the biggest European Tour event next to the British Open.

The 41-year-old McGinley played a near-flawless round with birdies at each of the four par 5s for a one-shot lead over Robert Karlsson. Marcus Fraser and Louis Oosthuizen were another shot back at the 7,320-yard West Course at Wentworth, which was hard and bouncy after a recent dry spell.

Charl Schwartzel, Daniek Vancsik and Garry Houston shot 4-under 68s.

McGinley said his round was his best since an opening-round 67 at last year's British Open.

"I struggled most of this year with poor or medium first rounds," he said. "But it's a long way from leading now to winning on Sunday night. The Ryder Cup is not on the horizon. It's in the future. I have got to have a heck of a summer to make it."

McGinley, currently 32nd on the European points list and well out of the top 5 that qualify, has played on the last three European teams and had accepted an offer from Nick Faldo to be a vice-captain on this year's team. He then backed out, saying he'd like to qualify as a player.

"I'm not ready to be a back room staffer," he said. "I don't feel I'm ready for that role yet. In the future I hope I'll get to do those things."

Many players had trouble in the dry conditions -- a departure from the soggy course of recent years. Karlsson, however, liked it just fine.

"I putted really well, very well and I kept the ball in play," he said. "Whenever I had a bit of a problem I tried to play sensibly."

Ernie Els is looking for his first win at this event after seven World Match Play titles on the same course, but struggled to a 3-over 75. Darren Clarke and defending champion Anders Hansen also shot 75s, Justin Rose shot 76 and Lee Westwood 77.

Four players -- David Howell, Graeme McDowell, Nick Dougherty and Miguel Angel Jimenez -- were tied at 70. Paul Casey shot 71 after a double-bogey 7 on the long 17th.

Three-time champion Colin Montgomerie double-bogeyed the short second hole and bogeyed the third, before battling back for a 73, and U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera opened with five successive bogeys before rallying to shoot 73.

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