Ernie Els began his British Open defence in disappointing style on Thursday, struggling to a first-round 78 to finish 10 shots behind the leader.

The big South African bogeyed four of the first nine holes at Royal St George's and three more on the back nine, failing to muster a single birdie as he trailed in the wake of his compatriot Hennie Otto, the surprise pace-setter.

"Conditions were tough, I've played in conditions like that before but this golf course is really difficult," Els said. "I had a lot of problems with my putts so I threw a lot of shots away on the greens early in the round."

Els, who has five victories this season including last week's Scottish Open, had problems with all aspects of his game, driving wildly off the tee and missing a succession of putts on the way to his highest round in 13 British Opens.

He did, however, sink a 12-foot putt for par on the 17th green and did not drop a shot over the tricky closing four holes to stay in contention to win his fourth major championship.

Els slumped to a 79 in the first round of this year's U.S. Masters before recovering with a 66 on the way to finishing sixth. The South African knows he must now do something similar in Sandwich.

"If I want to get back into the tournament I need to do something pretty special," he said. "Hopefully, we will get a break in the weather tomorrow morning and I'll try to get my putting touch back.

"If I can finish this event in even par that will be a good effort I guess."