Eight years after his last victory John Daly was back at the top of the leaderboard as The European Tour’s Middle East swing continued in Qatar.
The 45 year old American had a bogey-free five under par 67 on the opening day of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy in windy Doha.
It set the early clubhouse target and Daly said: "It's one of the best rounds I've ever played in a wind like that.
"You feel like you are eating a lot of sand - it was brutal. I'm pretty shocked myself. I had five and a half weeks off and really didn't touch a club much."
It was in similar conditions - without the sand - that Daly won the 1995 Open Championship at St Andrews, but his last victory was eight years ago, he no longer has a US PGA Tour card in his home country and is currently ranked 543rd in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Beneath it all, though, lurks a golfer of rare talent and he showed it again with birdies at the 13th and 16th to turn in 34, then picked up more strokes on the third, seventh and ninth as the wind began to strengthen.
Daly was joint leader with England's Richard Finch, who still had four holes to play, and they were one ahead of Swede Peter Hanson and South Korean K J Choi.
The weather was forecast to get even worse during the afternoon and that was bad news for the likes of World Number Three Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and defending champion Thomas Björn.
Ryder Cup Captain José María Olazábal was another to reach five under, but then came four bogeys in the last seven holes for a 71.
World Number Four Martin Kaymer, who missed the cut in his defence of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship last week, was also one under, while Scot Paul Lawrie was two better than that and Sergio Garcia two under.
Daly was ahead on his own when former Irish Open champion Finch missed the green on the short eighth and failed to get up and down.
Lawrie, whose victory in the event in 1999 was followed by his Open Championship triumph at Carnoustie the same season, signed for a 69 and said: "I've sand in places I didn't know I had places.
"The first five holes were flat calm, but then all of a sudden it was blowing a hoolie. I played nicely, but left a few out there as I always do."
Spain's Alvaro Quiros - first, second and second the last three years - double-bogeyed the short eighth and then four-putted the par five ninth after reaching the green with two mighty hits.
He was round in a level par 72, the same as Sergio Garcia who bogeyed the last two, while Kaymer signed for a 71 and Hanson a 69 after closing with a bogey six.
Westwood had birdies at the first and fifth, but McDowell was one over after four and Björn fared even worse over the opening stretch, double-bogeying the short third and dropping another shot three holes later.
The wind continued to pick up as predicted, but Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño and Australian Jason Day managed to get to three under as they approached the closing stretch.
Westwood fell back to level par when he three-putted the 13th.
