SWINDON’S David Howell saw his opening round at the Porsche European Open cut short on day one after a lengthy delay to the start of play in Germany.

Howell finished his round on two under par having only played seven holes, on a day when three hours and 25 minutes of play was lost to fog early in the morning at Golf Resort Bad Griesbach.

The 41-year-old got off to the perfect start as he birdied the par-four first, after having to wait until 4.45pm local time to start his round.

That was followed up by two pars before the Broome Manor pro picked up another shot at the par-three fourth.

With the light fading, Howell was able to complete three more holes to par before having to curtail his day.

The two-time Ryder Cup winner lies six shots off of overnight leader Bernd Wiesberger, with the Austrian able to finish his round in an eight-under par 63.

That is one shot better than he finished the first day of the same tournament in last year before following that up with a 76 on day two to miss the cut.

Meanwhile, Laurie Canter, who plays out of Cumberwell Park Golf Club, is lying just inside the top 100 having completed the back nine to par, with the front nine still to play.

Birdies on the 10th and 12th sandwiched a bogey on the 11th before another birdie on the par-three 14th saw Canter move to two under par.

However, a double-bogey on the par-four 15th saw him drop back down the leaderboard, playing out his final three holes to par.

Round one of the tournament re-commences at 7.30am tomorrow morning with Howell teeing off from the eighth tee and Canter from the first.