England’s Lee Westwood made a strong start in his title defence at the Indonesian Masters on Thursday with an opening round seven-under-par 65 to take a two-shot lead.

Rick Kulacz was the best of the Australians, four shots behind world No.3 Westwood at the majestic Royale Jakarta Golf Club.

Westwood’s closest challenger is highly-rated Arnond Vongvanij after the Thai fired a 67, with a group of six players a stroke further back.

Other Australians to start strongly include Marcus Both (70) and Wade Ormsby (71), while Adam Groom, Tim Stewart and Unho Park all signed for 72s.

A rejuvenated Westwood, 38, who took a week’s break after his third place finish at the US Masters, birdied the opening three holes and added three birdies and one bogey on his homeward nine.

“I had a break last week and hardly hit any balls,” said Westwood.

“I played a lot of golf earlier this year and needed a rest. It was good to go home and recharge my batteries because the Masters always takes a lot out of you. It is physically and mentally very demanding.”

Westwood, who held the world No.1 spot after victory at the Indonesia tournament last year, was caught off guard at the 14th hole where he dropped his second bogey on a windswept day.

“This is quite a tricky test because the greens are very undulating. You got to have your A-Game with you,” he said.

“(The wind direction) changed on 14 and it caught me by surprise and ended up with a bogey where I three putted.”

Asian Tour rookie Arnond, who has two top-10 finishes this year, credited his straight shooting game for his strong card.

“I’m happy but not surprised. I feel that my game in the last couple of weeks have been really close to where I want it. I hit my driver fairly straight and didn’t get into too much trouble,” said the 23-year-old.

Veteran Boonchu Ruangkit of Thailand, former Asian Tour No.1 Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur of India, Lee Sung of Korea, Zaw Moe of Myanmar and Sam Cyr of the United States were bunched up in third place on 68.