Shane Lowry is hungry for a Chinese takeaway after opening with a sizzling 66 in the HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

The Offaly man’s six under par effort beat Tiger Woods by a shot and left him just two behind leader Nick Watney in a share of second with Martin Kaymer and Ryan Moore.

Beaming after hitting seven birdies and just one bogey, Lowry said: “My game has been good for the past few months. I have thrown in a few good scores and it's just a question of trying to put four of them together.

“Hopefully it happens this week. This is my second World Golf Championship. It’s where you want to be when you are a golfer, playing in tournaments like this and fields like this."

Lowry, 22, missed out on a €500,000 pay day when he lifted the 3 Irish Open as an amateur last May.

And while he’s not a fan of the local cuisine, he could head to Japan for next week's Dunlop Phoenix with enough cash for a real feast - €807,575.

He added: "It’s just I'm not a big fan of Chinese food. I'm sticking to the basics this week. A bit of pasta or pizza or whatever I can get my hands on."

World No 32 Watney matched the course record with an eight under par 64 to lead by a shot from Lowry, Race to Dubai hopeful Kaymer and fellow American Moore.

World No1 Woods was put off by snap-happy fans with cameras but still fired a five under 67 as Mickelson posted a three under 69.

But it was a bad day at the office for the rest of the Irish as Rory McIlroy opened with a one over 73 and Padraig Harrington stumbled to a 74.

McIlroy missed half the fairways but triple major winner Harrington had trouble on the greens as he came home in 40 with two three-putts on his back nine.

Lowry was five under through 10 holes and kept his round simmering when he saved par on the 14th despite a visit to water.

He said: "That kept my momentum going in the round. I know I bogeyed the next but I felt that if I had bogeyed a par five it would have been a lot worse. It kept me going and I was happy to finish strong with two birdies in the last three.”