LOCH LOMOND, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - Asia's number one Liang Wen-chong demonstrated why he has become the first player from mainland China to win a place in the British Open with a blistering start to his challenge at the Scottish Open here on Thursday.

The 29-year-old is using the three-million-pound (5.95-million-dollar) tournament as a warm-up for next week's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, which he qualified for automatically by topping last season's Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Making light of difficult, damp conditions, Liang followed up a birdie on the second hole with an eagle on the long third to briefly lead the field and although he was unable to sustain that kind of pace, he remained on the heels of the early leaders at three under par after 13 holes.

Ahead of his opening round, the Chinese star took time out to reflect on the significance of becoming the first representative of the world's most populous nation to appear in golf's oldest major.

'It is an honour for me,' he said. 'I hope to play to my best ability and produce a good result. It will be important for golf in Asia and China.'

Birkdale will represent Liang's third appearance in a major after missing the cut in both his previous outings, at this year's US Masters and the 2007 US PGA.

'My experience at the Masters was especially good. I know what to expect in a big event and hopefully this time, I will play in all four rounds,' he said.

'I was nervous playing in front of the big crowds at the Masters so I will learn from that. Golf is such a difficult game to predict and you never know what will happen. All I can say is that I will play my hardest.'

Liang's only previous experience on a links course was at the former Dunhill Cup in St Andrews, Scotland.

'I enjoyed St Andrews but during that week, the weather was nice and the winds were not blowing,' he admitted.

'I know the British Open will be very gusty but I am comfortable playing in those conditions as my ball flight is normally low and I feel I have good ball control.'

Liang was crowned China?s first Asian Tour number one after a stellar season in 2007 where he won once and posted eight other top-10s. While he has yet to reproduce his winning form this year, Liang has achieved four top-10s, twice each on the Asian Tour and in Japan.

'At the start of the year, I wasn't happy with the way I was playing as I was thinking too much about the Masters. But once that was over, I started playing a lot better and the results started to show,' he said.

'I'm happy with how my game has been shaping up the past few months. I had a good break before heading out to Europe and I think I'm playing better now than before.'

Liang will be part of a strong Asian Tour contingent who will feature in the year's third major next week.

Joining Liang at Royal Birkdale will be Malaysia?s Danny Chia, Angelo Que of the Philippines, Thailand?s Prayad Marksaeng, Singaporean prospect Lam Chih Bing, and Japan's Yoshinobu Tsukada.