Danish veteran Thomas Bjorn has labelled Royal Melbourne the world’s finest golf course after recovering from early trouble to shoot a five-under-par 66 in the World Cup opening round.

The 42-year-old 14-time winner on the European Tour said these days he doesn’t always have the enthusiasm to play that he used to.

But the challenge posed by the famed Melbourne sandbelt course had him fired up on Thursday.

“When you’re going to go play Royal Melbourne you get excited about it,” he told reporters.

“It’s in my eyes probably the finest golf course you can ever play.

“It’s a thinker’s golf course.”

A four-putt for a double-bogey on the fourth didn’t spoil Bjorn’s mood.

He recovered to birdie six of his last 14, despite most players having found the starting stretch the easier part of the course.

He said it was the fact that there were so many potential trouble spots to guard against at Royal Melbourne that made it so engaging.

“It just demands so much off you,” he said.

“Anything in red numbers on this golf course on any day is good.

“When you shoot five under you’ve got to be pretty proud.”

Bjorn’s Danish teammate Thorbjorn Olesen was one-under late in his round, giving he and Bjorn a six-under total and a share of the team lead with the United States.

Bjorn said Olesen, the 23-year-old world No.58, had the potential to be one of the world’s finest golfers and playing with the youngster was what attracted him to the tournament.

“I wanted to come down and take him through one of the best golf courses in the world,” he said.

“You’ve got to play places like this to become a really good player.”