Thomas Pieters insisted he was taking it one round at a time after firing an opening 62 in the company of European Ryder Cup Captain Darren Clarke at the Made in Denmark.
Clarke makes his three Captain's picks on Tuesday, with Pieters relying on that route to get his spot on the plane to Hazeltine after all nine of the automatic qualifying places were sealed at last week's D+D REAL Czech Masters.
The Belgian finished second at that event on the back of a fourth-placed finish at the Olympic Men's Golf Competition, and he brought that momentum to Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort to share the first-round lead with Swede Joakim Lagergren and England's Tom Lewis.
The trio fired nine under par totals to equal the course record set by Kristoffer Broberg and sit one shot clear of Welshman Bradley Dredge.
Lagergren is currently 128th on the Race to Dubai and will be more concerned with keeping his playing privileges than the Ryder Cup, but for Pieters, the week is about putting himself at the forefront of Clarke's mind.
"It was stress free today," he said. "I drove it well off the tee, hit it close and made a bunch of putts. The greens are very good and everything about the course is great.
"I did all I could in front of Darren today. He has a lot on his mind other than golf and we will just have to wait and see. It's up to Darren. If I do win this week, it might get him thinking, but I just have tomorrow to worry about.
"I'm not even leading on my own, so it must be playing quite easy out there. I'm playing really well, I'm striking it well and putting a little better than before, so I'm just looking for that win."
It's up to Darren. If I do win this week, it might get him thinking, but I just have tomorrow to worry about - Thomas Pieters
Pieters started on the back nine and made four birdies in six holes before dropping a shot on the 16th and then making back-to-back gains to turn in 30.
Further gains on the first, third, fourth and sixth - following an excellent up and down after he put his approach into the crowd - had the 24 year old on the brink of breaking the record but three closing pars saw him settle for a tie.
Lagergren had already achieved that feat as he picked up birdies on the 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, second, third, fourth, sixth and eighth in an unblemished effort.
"Pretty much everything was good about my game today," he said. "I can't complain. All the parts in my game were really good. I've not played too much in the last six weeks so I didn't know what to expect but it came out good today.
"I felt like I was playing good at the end of last year and I just wanted to keep that momentum. Hopefully I will finish even stronger this year."
