Nicolas Colsaerts was delighted to see his hard work pay off as he carded a flawless 63 to end day one of the 72° OPEN D'ITALIA presented by DAMIANI on top of the leaderboard.
The big-hitting Belgian fired eight birdies in a row from the 14th to the third and added another on the eighth to finish the day on nine under, two shots clear of Francesco Molinari, Shiv Kapur and Kristoffer Broberg.
Colsaerts has not had a win since the Volvo World Match Play Championship in 2012 and sits 100th in the Race to Dubai after securing just two top ten finishes this year.
But the Ryder Cup hero from Medinah insists his game is not that far away and was delighted to see things come to fruition on Thursday.
"I have been playing quite well for a while and waiting for a round like this when it all comes together," he said. "Today it was great and it is nice to see the work you are doing paying off for a change.
"The course is not long and the back nine is very scoreable so I would be surprised if I was the only player here who gets hot out there. I think the winning score will be pretty low but that's good – I think most people who come out here to watch golf want to see birdies and eagles."
The 32 year old had a good look to make it nine birdies in a row on the fourth but his putt from 15 feet did not quite turn.
With preferred lies in play, Colsaerts' name will not go in the history books but he was just the 11th player to make eight birdies in a row on the European Tour.
"It all felt pretty easy to be fair," he said. "We all know what it is like to catch fire and get on a run like that but I didn't realise how many birdies in a row I had made until the sixth one, then I started to count them.
"I actually could have made nine in a row but the putt just took a little bobble at the end which took it offline.
"It felt like I could have birdied every hole today. I think I only had one really long putt but the rest of them were all pretty makeable and it was just one of those days."
Home favourite Molinari also started on the tenth and picked up shots on the 12th, 14th, 16th and 17th to sit four under after nine holes. A further birdie followed on the fourth but he gave the stroke straight back before finishing with three gains to sit seven under.
Kapur made the turn two under after a bogey and three birdies on the front nine but four consecutive gains from the 12th and another on the last saw him sit alongside Molinari and Broberg, who finished with five birdies.
The Swede was two under through 13 holes thanks to four birdies and two bogeys but his surging finish took him to seven under.
A strong finish from Bernd Wiesberger saw him record a six under par 66 to sit in a share of fifth on a congested leaderboard.
The Alstom Open de France champion made three birdies on the front nine but bogeyed the tenth and looked unlikely to make any sort of charge as he stood on the 14th tee.
But two birdies and an eagle followed to catapult him up the leaderboard and leave him sat alongside amateur Stefano Mazzoli, Fabrizio Zanotti, Borja Virto Astudillo, Mikko Korhonen, Lucas Bjerregaard and Mark Foster, who recorded five birdies on the back nine.
Italian duo Andrea Perrino and Lorenzo Gagli were then in a large group at five under with Martin Kaymer and Danny Willett among those a further shot back.
Costantino Rocca fired an 80 as he began his final European Tour tournament while at the other end of the spectrum, Gavin Moynihan, celebrating his 21st birthday, signed for a 73 on debut.
