Sergio Garcia held up after his storming start

Defending champion Sergio Garcia reached eight under par and was one ahead of Swede Michael Jonzon when play in the Castello Masters first round was suspended because of 40mph gusts in Spain today.

Garcia, playing on his home course and trying to retain a title for the first time in his professional career, turned in a six under 29 and then added further birdies at the first and fourth.

There was still a chance of a 59 at that point - because of placing being allowed it would not count as a European Tour record - but he had to settle for pars on the next three holes as the wind started to cause real problems.

Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie appeared far from happy when the suspension came at 1.15pm.
After reaching four under he had just bogeyed the third, fifth and sixth when play was stopped.

"So the later starters can walk off and we've just played in it. That's OK, is it?" he told an official after being told conditions were considered dangerous.

Players were allowed to finish the hole they were on and Jonzon, 158th on the Tour money list and needing to climb into the top 115 to keep his card, completed a seven under par 64.

England's David Horsey and Italian Emanuele Canonica were two further back and Garcia's fellow Spaniards Jose Maria Olazabal and Pablo Martin four under.

Olazabal had just chipped in at the sixth and made a 14-footer for another birdie on the next during the worst of the weather.

Later starters included Martin Kaymer, playing his first event since breaking toes in a go-kart crash in August, and Masters champion Angel Cabrera, who had arrived in the early hours after finishing second to Lucas Glover in the Grand Slam in Bermuda yesterday.

That is the event that brings together the season's four major winners for a 36-hole tournament.