KIAWAH ISLAND (South Carolina), Nov 14: Germany’s Marcel Siem made the most of his first appearance at the World Cup of Golf on Thursday.

Siem’s four birdies helped Germany to a five-under-par 67 in the fourball format and a one-stroke lead at the par-72, 7,296-yard Ocean Course.

Germany, featuring Siem and Alex Cejka, lead Wales by a shot and France by two strokes. Argentina, Paraguay and South Africa are at two-under 70. Defending champions Japan are at two-over 74, while Chile withdrew from the 24-team field.

Cejka, ranked 41st in the world, got Germany under par with a birdie at the par-five second hole and a second birdie at the par-four sixth.

Then Siem took charge. Siem birdied the par-five seventh and the par-three eighth as the Germans went out in four-under 32. Siem added birdies at the par-three 14th and the par-five 16th.

Cejka made bogey at the 17th to return the Germans to five-under and then Siem made an up-and-down par save from a greenside bunker at the 18th to preserve the lead.

Cejka said he needed to hit driver and 3-wood on three of the lengthy par-four holes playing into the wind and still did not reach the green.

The Germans, though, were satisfied to be top of the leaderboard, especially heading into Friday’s foursome format when the temperatures are expected to dip and the winds expected to pick up.

Wales’s Ian Woosnam and Bradley Dredge were near-perfect partners in the opening round as each played off the other’s strength.

Chile’s Felipe Aguilar, who suffered a fractured left hand getting into a hospitality van Tuesday night, withdrew after recording only one score on the front nine Thursday.

Scores:

67 Germany (Alex Cejka/Marcel Siem)

68 Wales (Bradley Dredge/Ian Woosnam)

69 France (Thomas Levet/Raphael Jacquelin)

70 Argentina (Eduardo Romero/Angel Cabrera), Paraguay (Carlos Franco/Marco Ruiz), South Africa (Trevor Immelman/Rory Sabbatini)

71 Scotland (Paul Lawrie/Alastair Forsyth), Mexico (Alejandro Quiroz/Antonio Maldonado), South Korea (K.J. Choi/S.K. Ho), United States (Jim Furyk/Justin Leonard), New Zealand (Michael Campbell/David Smail), Spain (Ignacio Garrido/Miguel Angel Jimenez)

72 Denmark (Soren Kjeldsen/Anders Hansen), Australia (Stuart Appleby/Stephen Leaney), Sweden (Fredrik Jacobson/Niclas Fasth), Myanmar (Kyi Hla Han/Aung Win)

73 England (Paul Casey/Justin Rose)

74 Ireland (Padraig Harrington/Paul McGinley), Japan (Shigeki Maruyama /Hidemichi Tanaka)

75 Trinidad and Tobago (Stephen Ames/ Robert Ames)

76 Hong Kong (Derek Fung/James Stewart), Thailand (Jamnian Chitprasong /Pornsakon Tipsanit)

81 India (Digvijay Singh/Gaurav Ghei) Withdrew Chile (Felipe Aguilar/Roy Mackenzie)—Reuters