Edoardo Molinari was part of a five way tie for the lead as defending champion Matt Wallace made a positive start on day one of the Made in Denmark presented by FREJA.
The three time European Tour winner had held a two shot lead but two late bogeys saw him sign for a 66 and set the clubhouse target at five under alongside Spaniard Alejandro Cañizares and English trio Tom Murray, Matthew Southgate and Paul Waring.
Wallace arrived fresh off finishing third at the US PGA Championship and he was one shot off the lead at Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort.
Increasing winds had made scoring more difficult as the morning wave finished their rounds, with those players starting in the afternoon set for a tough challenge in Farsø.
There was an eight way tie for the lead among the early jostling, with Wallace among those at four under.
He birdied the 11th and 14th, spun his approach to tap-in range at the famous 16th and added another gain on the 18th to turn in 31.
Countryman Southgate was the first man to break out of the group, making birdies at the 12th and 13th to add to gains at the first, fourth and fifth but he soon had company.
Molinari had birdied the 11th but gave the shot back on the next before making gains on the 12th, 14th, 16th, first and second.
Waring endured a roller coaster of a round as he set the target, bogeying the second but making an eagle on the fifth before birdies on the seventh and eighth saw him turn in 33.
He birdied the 11th but gave the shot back on the 13th before making further gains on the 14th and 16th.
Southgate made a third birdie in a row on the 14th to hit the front on his own but Molinari joined him with a 15 foot left to righter on the fourth.
A Southgate bogey on the 15th left Molinari alone in top spot and he took advantage of the par five fifth with an up-and-down to lead by two.
The 38-year-old then three putted the sixth and seventh and slipped into a four way tie for the lead alongside Southgate, Waring and Cañizares.
The two time European Tour winner made a fast start with birdies on the first, fourth, fifth and seventh but bogeyed the ninth to turn in 33.
Further gains on the 13th and 16th put him in a share of the lead and Murray soon made it a five way tie at the top.
The 29-year-old birdied the 14th, 16th and 17th and, while he gave a shot back at the 18th, he made further gains on the fourth, fifth and seventh.
Wallace bogeyed the seventh but picked the shot straight back up on the next to stay at four under, a shot ahead of a group of ten players including four time European Tour winner and Bernd Wiesberger.
Local favourite Martin Simonsen got the first big cheer of the week on Himmerland Hill as he made the 13th hole-in-one of the season at the 16th.
The Dane holed from 96 yards with a 54 degree wedge to win both himself and his caddie a cart from Garia Luxury Golf Carts worth 275,000 krone.
