England's Richard Finch raced to the turn in a four under par 32 to take an early lead at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy.
The Englishman, starting on the tenth in Doha, enjoyed consecutive birdies at the 11th and 12th, before collecting further gains at the 16th and 18th.
That was enough to give the 33 year old a one shot lead over defending champion Robert Karlsson and two-time US Open winner Retief Goosen.
Both men were three under through ten holes to lie one ahead of Welshman Bradley Dredge, Austrian Markus Brier, Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen and England's David Lynn.
American John Daly was level par through 11 holes, while World Number One Lee Westwood was one over as tough conditions led to some high scoring in the third leg of the Desert Swing.
Germany's Martin Kaymer, who could overtake Westwood on the Official Golf World Ranking with a top-two finish, was among the later starters along with last week's winner Paul Casey and former champion Alvaro Quiros.
