Alexander Knappe shot a six under par round of 66 to take the lead after day one of the Swedish Challenge hosted by Robert Karlsson on the European Challenge Tour.
The German picked up three birdies and an eagle before dropping a shot on the 18th, his ninth, to reach the turn in four under par at Katrineholms GK.
The 27 year old, who won his maiden Challenge Tour title at the Swiss Challenge presented by Association Suisse de Golf this season, made four further gains and two bogeys to claim a one-shot lead after round one.
And the Paderborn man, who has also finished tied third twice this season, believes it was a change of mind-set which led to his strong opening round.
“My attitude was better today,” said Knappe who currently sits in ninth place in the 2016 Road to Oman rankings. “I wasn’t too greedy and I wasn’t too angry with myself when I hit a bad shot.
“Over the last few weeks I have tried to be perfect every time and not hit bad shots but today I just accepted whatever I got and worked around it.My communication with my caddie was also better and we are a strong team now.
“I started on hole number ten where I hit a good shot into the green – but didn’t hole my putt. I thought to myself ‘oh no, it is going to be just like the past few weeks when I play good but don’t hole anything’ but then I hit it close again on 11. From then on that gave me confidence.
“I kept getting into positions where I was leaving myself with putts from inside nine feet, so my long game was really good.
“Although I missed a short putt for bogey on the seventh the rest of my game was very solid. It could have been lower if I hadn’t dropped other shots on five and 18, but it was a good start.
“I think it helped that it rained today as I like to pitch the ball pin high – so that was great for my game. It was fun out there and hopefully we can keep on improving.”
One adrift of Knappe are home favourites Jeff Karlsson and 2016 Barclays Kenya Open champion Sebastian Soderberg. They are joined by England’s Tom Murray on five under par.
11-time European Tour champion Robert Karlsson, who is hosting the tournament this week at his home course, finished the day on two under par after carding one eagle, three birdies and three bogeys in his opening round.
