South African James Kingston made the most of a sponsor’s invitation and the cold, wet conditions at Wentworth Club to take the first-round lead in the BMW PGA Championship with a sublime six under par 66.

That gave the South African a one stroke advantage over Finn Mikko Ilonen, with Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño and Scottish rookie Scott Henry on four under par. Austrian Martin Wiegele was also four under after 13 holes when play was suspended for the day, after earlier thunderstorms caused a 90-minute delay, and will complete his first round on Friday morning.

Kingston finished with seven birdies and one bogey shortly before play was suspended at 15.42. Playing under a sponsor’s invitation after losing his card last season, he said: “What a great feeling to be back here. I think I’ve made the most of the invitation today.”

Ilonen, who was runner-up in the Volvo China Open earlier this month, said: “All day I was thinking ‘Can I get these waterproof trousers off?’ and never managed it. We even had hail on the ninth tee. I said to a friend last night it was going to snow today and she laughed at me. It’s British summer and we have proof of that.”

Ryder Cup heroes Martin Kaymer, Francesco Molinari and Lee Westwood are in hot pursuit on two under par, while World Number Two Rory McIlroy opened with a two over par 74 and Colin Montgomerie, who won a hat-trick of BMW PGA Championship titles in 1998, 1999 and 2000, signed for a 71.