Branden Grace laid down a marker in The Race to Dubai as Marcus Fraser and Ian Poulter set the early pace on day one of the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
Grace needs to win or finish second on his own at Jumeirah Golf Estates and rely on other things to go his way if he is to be crowned Europe's Number One on Sunday.
But he was taking matters into his own hands during the first round at the Earth Course as he turned in 32 to sit just two shots off the leaders.
The South African flew out of the blocks and opened with four birdies with another gain on the sixth getting him to five under before bunker trouble on the ninth saw him drop a first shot of the day.
Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy was two shots back alongside closest rival and playing partner Danny Willett with Justin Rose one under, Louis Oosthuizen and Byeong-hun An level par and Shane Lowry two over.
Those seven men can all still claim The Race to Dubai over the weekend as The European Tour 2015 season reaches its climax at the fourth event of The Final Series.
At the top of the leaderboard, Fraser set the early clubhouse target as he opened with a 66.
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.
Poulter has finished in the top 30 in all of the events in The Final Series so far and he was bogey free in his 66 with gains on the third, fourth, sixth, tenth, 14th and 15th.
Francesco Molinari was also unblemished in his 67 having picked up shots on the second, fifth, 11th, 13th and 15th to sit one off the lead alongside Martin Kaymer and two-time 2015 winner Andy Sullivan who had both played 16 holes.
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 to sit alongside Grace, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Chris Wood who were out on course.
Former World Number One Luke Donald was then one of the players to have signed for a 69 alongside Lucas Bjerregaard, Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton, Pablo Larrazábal, Joost Luiten and Thomas Pieters.
