Defending champion Thomas Pieters took a share of the clubhouse lead as the D+D REAL Czech Masters got under way in Prague.
The Belgian claimed his maiden European Tour title at the Albatross Golf Resort last season and went on to follow it with a win in his next start at the KLM Open.
He will need back-to-back wins again if he is to force his way onto Darren Clarke's Ryder Cup team at next week's Made in Denmark, and an opening 67 had him right in contention on day one.
Peter Hanson knows a thing or two about the Ryder Cup - having been on winning teams in 2010 and 2012 - and he also fired a 67 to take a share of top spot at five under.
England's Robert Coles, Welshman Bradley Dredge, Scot Craig Lee and Dane Jeff Winther were then a shot off the lead alongside Sweden's Robert Karlsson, who birdied his opening four holes.
Pieters was dialled in with his irons in the early stages, setting up plenty of birdie opportunities and taking them on the 11th, 13th, 14th, 16th and first. Back-to-back birdies were to follow on the fifth and sixth and at that point, the 24 year old was seven under and had a two-shot lead.
A wild tee-shot on the eighth led to Pieters hitting a provisional, however, and - while he found his first ball - he had to take a drop and a short missed putt resulted in a double-bogey.
Swede Hanson also started on the back nine and he turned in 32 thanks to birdies on the tenth, 12th, 17th and 18th. He could not quite maintain that pace but a birdie on the seventh handed him a bogey-free round and a share of the lead.
Lee started on the tenth and while a bogey on the 11th was his only deviation from par on his front nine, he came home in 31 thanks to five birdies.
Dredge was a runner-up here in 2014 after a last-day battle with countryman Jamie Donaldson and he was bogey-free with gains on the 13th, 15th, second and fourth.
Winther had three birdies to go with an eagle on the par five tenth but a bogey on the 17th saw him drop out of the lead, while Coles also had a late stumble with bogeys on the seventh and eighth before a birdie on the ninth.
English trio Steven Brown, James Busby and Oliver Fisher were then at three under alongside Germany's Florian Fritsch and Spaniard Carlos del Moral.
Lee Westwood is aiming to keep himself in the thoughts of Clarke as he seeks a tenth Ryder Cup appearance and he briefly held a share of the early lead at three under before dropping shots on the 15th and 16th and birdieing the first.
Australia's Daniel Gaunt made the 31st hole-in-one of the season as he aced the par three third from 227 yards with a three iron.
