New Zealand golfer Mark Brown made a solid enough start at the $US5 million ($NZ8.56 million) HSBC Champions tournament in China on Thursday.

Brown shot a one-under-par 71 to enter the clubhouse in a share of 27th place midway through the opening round in Shanghai.

The Asian Tour order of merit leader had just two birdies and one par to trail the clubhouse leader, Swede Henrik Stenson, by six shots.