MADRID, Spain -- Paul Broadhurst birdied two of his last three holes Thursday for a 4-under 67 that tied him with Magnus Carlsson and Marcus Fraser for a one-shot lead after the first round of the Madrid Masters on the European Tour.

"I just stuck in there really and had to make a couple of miracle shots to keep it ticking over," Broadhurst said.

Spanish Ryder Cup player Miguel Angel Jimenez was part of a large pack two shots back, while former U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina settled for a 71. Jimenez hasn't won in Spain in 10 years.

Jose Maria Olazabal returned from an injury to shoot a 70. The 42-year-old Spaniard, a two-time Masters champion, showed little signs of the back pain and fatigue that had plagued him since his last competitive round in June.

Federico Cabrera looked unlikely to follow his father, Angel Cabrera, into the weekend after shooting an 81 to sit second to last.

It may have been three months since Olazabal played a competitive round of golf, but he showed no signs of losing his touch on Thursday. The 42-year-old has been out of the game because of injury and fatigue since narrowly failing to qualify for the British Open in June, but this comeback -- his third during an injury-interrupted career -- is on track.

Englishman Broadhurst, Swede Carlsson and Australian Fraser are the co-leaders after all shot their 67s, and are hotly pursued by a cluster of five players, including French Open winner Pablo Larrazabal, who are one shot back on 3 under.

Olazabal sent expectations soaring when he birdied his first hole -- the 10th -- and he was 2 under at the turn as birdies at 16 and 17 made up for a dropped shot on the 14th. He picked up another birdie on the way back in, and even two more bogeys failed to take the gloss off an impressive score.

"It has been a very positive day and my score is better than I expected," Olazabal said. "I made some mistakes -- I three-putted on two greens -- but other parts have been very good.

"I started the 10th hole, my first, with a birdie and I thought to myself, 'This is good'," he added. "Who would believe that after so much time out of competition I make a birdie to start?

"Being back on the golf course has been weird. It's been a long while since I was in a competition and I have lost my rhythm," he said. "But I will do my best. It's not a 100-meter sprint but four long days on a very demanding golf course. It might seem easy but you have to play very well."

Co-leader Broadhurst is no stranger to enforced absences either, having been sidelined by a serious hand injury in 2000, and despite admitting his 4-under-par 67 was not pretty at times, he was happy overall.

"I just stuck in there really and had to make a couple of miracle shots to keep it ticking over," he said. "I had a couple of very poor tee shots on Nos. 5 and 6, but came back with another couple of birdies at the end and it's nice to finish 4 under.

"It doesn't get any easier even if you've been on the Tour for years and I'll be out practicing this afternoon."

Carlsson, out early this morning, matched Broadhurst's efforts and is delighted to be seeing several weeks' hard work bear fruit.

"The last few weeks I've been working a lot on my game and have started believing in myself," he said. "I had a good start in January but then missed a lot of cuts.

"I lost a playoff in Johannesburg and I made the mistake of thinking it was going to be easy," he explained. "So I'm very happy with this score today."

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