Gary Stal and Paul Waring set the early pace as the first round of the Trophée Hassan II got under way at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.
Frenchman Stal was three under after 12 holes with Waring joining him having played five but there was an impressive chasing pack gathering behind them in Morocco.
David Drysdale, Mikko Ilonen, Pablo Larrazábal and Alexander Levy were all at two under, with a combined 14 European Tour wins between them.
Starting on the tenth, Stal turned in 34 with birdies on the 12th, 13th and 18th, and when he also made a gain on the first he was out in front on his own.
He then bogeyed the second to drop to three under where he was soon joined by Waring who made a lightning start.
The Englishman - who has struggled with a back injury and is playing on a medical exemption - started birdie-par-eagle to hold a share of the lead after five holes.
Spaniard Larrazábal turned in 35 after making three birdies in his first four holes but dropping a shot on the 16th, while Levy also had three birdies and a bogey after eight holes in the group behind.
Ilonen had a similar record in his first seven holes while Drysdale had birdies on the 11th and 15th in his first six.
There were then 11 players at one under including Grégory Bourdy and Trevor Fisher Jnr,
Defending champion Jeunghun Wang made a bogey-bogey start and was one over after eight holes.
