Alexander Levy felt he shot his best round of the year as a brilliant 66 handed him the first round lead at the Real Club Valderrama Open de España, Hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation.
Valderrama lived up to its fearsome reputation on Thursday with scores in the 60s at a high premium despite the favourable conditions, as Levy's five under par 66 was enough to give him a one-shot lead over defending champion James Morrison, Alejandro Cañizares, Andrew Johnston and Stuart Manley.
The Frenchman had a slow start to the season with three missed cuts but has not looked back since the Desert Swing, and secured a second-place finish at the ISPS HANDA Perth International thanks to a closing 66.
Having repeated that score on one of the toughest courses on The European Tour, the 25 year old was delighted with his performance as he looks to add to his two wins claimed in the 2014 season.
"It is a very tough golf course, in fantastic condition and I played really well today," he said. "I putted well and did everything well. I got a bit lucky two or three times, but it was a good 66. It is nice to shoot it on a course like Valderrama which is special.
"I like it when it is a tough course because it is not a putting contest. You need to play well tee to green and that's the way I like to play.
Today was my best round since last year. That is good for me and I stayed positive during the day. I'm really happy with how I played - Alexander Levy
Levy opened with a birdie on the tenth and added to it on the 12th before dropping a shot on the 13th. In a topsy-turvy first nine, he then made further gains on the 14th, 15th and 17th before making a second bogey of the day on the 18th.
Birdies followed on the first and second to get Levy to five under and none of the field could catch him as he parred his way home.
Englishman Johnston made back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth and added to those gains on the 11th and 17th as he fired the only bogey-free round of the day.
Manley, a five-time Qualifying School graduate, had set the target around an hour earlier thanks to a brilliant second nine of 31.
He started on the tenth and was level par after his first nine but then went on a sensational run, picking up shots on the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth before a bogey on the eighth dropped the Welshman out of the lead.
Morrison made a birdie-bogey start before picking up a shot on the fifth to turn in 34. Further gains followed on the tenth and 14th before a brilliant bunker shot handed him a fifth birdie of the day on the penultimate hole.
A birdie-birdie finish catapulted Cañizares up the leaderboard with further gains on the first, ninth and 11th going with a dropped shot on the sixth.
Another home favourite, Pablo Larrazábal, was then at three under, a shot clear of countryman Jordi Garcia Pinto, German Martin Kaymer, Swede Joakim Lagergren and Scot Richie Ramsay.
Grégory Bourdy, Rhys Davies, Ross Fisher, Maximilian Kieffer and Joost Luiten then completed the group of just 15 players to score under par, with tournament host Sergio Garcia recording a 74.
