Lucas Herbert opened up an early two-shot lead as the first round of the BMW International Open got under way at Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof.
The Australian has four career top tens on the European Tour but only one of those has come outside of his homeland - a tie for third at the Rocco Forte Sicilian Open in May.
Five birdies in his first 11 holes put him in the driving seat in Germany, with countryman Wade Ormsby and recent winner Mikko Korhonen leading the chasing pack at three under.
There were then 11 players three shots off the lead.
Herbert got off to a flying start with a birdie on the first, adding a hat-trick of gains from the third and another on the seventh.
Ormsby held the first-round lead at this event last season and he made a good start again, birdieing the 11th, 13th and 15th.
Korhonen arrived in Pulheim off the back of a maiden European Tour win at the Shot Clock Masters and he birdied the tenth, 12th, 13th and 15th before dropping a shot on the 16th in his first seven holes.
World Number 18 Sergio Garcia was having to fight back from a slow start, recovering from bogeys on the tenth and 12th with birdies on the 13th, 15th and 16th to get within four of the lead.
