England's Robert Rock and Jamie Elson shared the lead with Swede Johan Edfors midway through the opening day of the Open de Andalucía de Golf by Turkish Airlines in Malaga.
The trio all posted five under par rounds of 65 to be one in front of Scotland's former Open Champion Paul Lawrie.
Rock has now gone 197 European Tour events without a victory, although he did walk away from the 2009 3 Irish Open with the winner's cheque because amateur Shane Lowry was the player who beat him.
The 33 year old turned in level par, but then covered the shorter front nine in just 29 strokes with birdies at the second, third, fourth, seventh and eighth.
“My front nine was quite uninteresting, but things changed with my five birdies on the back nine,” he said. “It’s a great start. These low scores are not easy to get - hopefully I will post some more this week.”
Elson, in the tournament thanks to his top-ten finish at the Sicilian Open on Monday, played the outward half first in 30 and picked up another shot at the long 12th.
In trouble off the tee at the last, he pitched to ten feet and made the par putt.
The 29 year old was a Walker Cup team-mate of Luke Donald and Graeme McDowell a decade ago, but has yet to make a real impact as a professional and is without a full playing card after finishing 132nd on last year's Race to Dubai.
Elson has already had two top-five finishes this year, however, and said: "I made some ground-breaking changes to my swing over Christmas because my 'fairways hit' stats last year were abysmal.
"I'm delighted. The first time I had a card was 2004 and perhaps it came a bit early for me. I didn't really know what I was doing."
Edfors holed from over twice as far for par on the 18th after missing the green and, with three birdies in the previous four holes, was going well in pursuit of a fourth Tour title.
The previous three all came in 2006, including the Scottish Open after a magical closing 63 at Loch Lomond.
Lawrie's four birdies in a row from the 11th included a chip-in and he then kept a bogey off his card to tuck in just off the pace.
Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazábal, past and present Ryder Cup Captains, both shot 70, while Monday's Sicilian Open winner Raphael Jacquelin had a 68.
Spanish duo Alvaro Quiros and Miguel Angel Jiménez, the two members of the world's top 50 taking part, were among the later starters having to contend with a stiff wind.
