Marcus Fraser set the early clubhouse target as those looking to win The Race to Dubai began their first rounds at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
The Australian opened with a 66 at Jumeirah Golf Estates to lead by one from Francesco Molinari, Luke Donald and Ian Poulter but all eyes in the afternoon will be on the seven men who can be crowned Europe's number one.
Rory McIlroy leads the way with Danny Willett, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace and Byeong-hun An all in with a chance of taking the prize but, with those players among the late starters in round one, it was left to Fraser to make the early running.
The consistent Australian has missed just four cuts this season and, coming off the back of a tie for 13th at the BMW Masters, he turned in 32 with birdies on the second, third, fourth and seventh.
Further gains followed on the the tenth and 11th and when he also birdied the 14th, Peter Hanson's low opening record of 64 from 2011 was in danger.
A bogey on the 16th stalled the 37 year old's momentum but he can still be very pleased with his start as he seeks a third European Tour title.
"It was good," he said. "I felt like I played great, felt like I was in control of my game most of the day. I managed to make a couple of putts - the greens are that good; if you pick the right line and you hit it on line, it's going to go in.
"It's always nice to get off to a fast start and I kept it going.
"Sixteen is always a hard hole for me. I missed my drive and going in with a three iron, it was always going to be a bit tough. That's the way it is.
"But I did a lot of good out there, so it was good fun."
Former World Number One Donald is looking for a first title in three years and he recorded just two pars in his opening 11 holes.
The Englishman birdied his first three holes before giving one back on the fourth and then made another three in a row followed by a bogey on the eighth. Two pars followed on the ninth and tenth before a seventh birdie of the day got him to five under.
Molinari was unblemished through 15 holes as he picked up birdies on the second, fifth, 11th, 13th and 15th holes while Poulter was also bogey free for his first 14 with gains on the third, fourth, sixth, tenth and 14th.
Alejandro Cañizares was then in the clubhouse at four under after coming home in 31.
The Spaniard had made it into the tournament as a reserve at 62nd in The Race to Dubai and began with a bogey after going out in the first pairing with Stephen Gallacher.
Eight straight pars followed to turn in 37 but he picked up shots on the tenth, 12th, 13th,14th and 18th to catapult himself up the leaderboard.
Fabrizio Zanotti also signed for a 68 thanks to birdies on the first, tenth, 14th and 15th with Thomas Pieters and Chris Wood also four under and still out on the course.
Grace had birdied his first two holes to get to two under while Rose made a gain on the first.
An, Oosthuizen, Willett and McIlroy were all level par in the very early stages of their rounds while Lowry had dropped a shot on the opening hole.
