Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello made a fast start to take the early lead at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The 27 year old eagled the third at Kingsbarns and added a birdie on the fourth to lie three under, one clear of a six-strong group including Scotland's David Drysdale and Gary Orr and English duo Ross McGowan and Robert Dinwiddie, who were all playing St Andrews.
Northern Ireland's Gareth Maybin was two under after four holes at Carnoustie, a score shared with New Zealand's Gareth Paddison who had played five holes at Kingsbarns.
Most of the star names were starting from the tenth tee at Kingsbarns, including World Number One Luke Donald, US Open Champion Rory McIlroy and World Number Two Lee Westwood.
Donald is looking to become the first man to top the money list on both sides of the Atlantic – he was the top earner on the US PGA Tour despite missing out on the FedEx Cup - and has a lead of more than €1,600,000 over McIlroy, but there are enough lucrative events remaining to give the chasing pack hope.
Former Open Champion John Daly made a great start when he opened with birdies at the first two holes at Carnoustie, usually the hardest of the three courses used for the pro-am event.
But the two-time Major winner then dropped shots at the third and sixth to drop back to level par.
Drysdale briefly claimed a share of the lead with his third birdie of the day on the fifth at the Old Course, but Cabrera-Bello responded with a birdie on the sixth at Kingsbarns to move to four under.
Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell had recovered from a poor start to lie one off the pace, the 2010 US Open Champion taking six on the 12th at Kingsbarns but hitting back with two birdies and an eagle in the next five holes.
Donald was one under after two holes alongside defending champion Martin Kaymer, while pre-tournament favourites Westwood and McIlroy were on level par after four and one hole respectively
Westwood and McIlroy still harbour hopes of catching Donald at the top of The Race to Dubai, but both were struggling to make an impression on the leaderboard so far.
McIlroy played his first three holes in one under, while Westwood was level par after eight holes.
Cabrera-Bello still led the way after going to the turn in 31 and picking up another birdie on the tenth to lie six under, one ahead of South Africa's Jaco van Zyl who had also gone out in 31 at Kingsbarns..
