Niklas Nørgaard continued his love affair with English golf courses following a brilliant opening round of 66 at the BMW PGA Championship.
The Dane claimed his maiden DP World Tour title at the Betfred British Masters at the beginning of the month, where he showed resilience to overcome a shaky stretch towards the finish and hold off Thriston Lawrence by two shots.
He made the weekend during last week's Amgen Irish Open, coming home in a tie for 36th, but he returned to the top end of the leaderboard at Wentworth Club on Thursday after carding seven birdies and one dropped shot to set the clubhouse target before Matthew Baldwin's flawless 65 moved him to the summit.
The 32-year-old was delighted with his performance at Virginia Water, especially after failing to make the cut on his debut during last year's event.
"It's only my second time here and third tournament round, I didn't make the cut last year," Nørgaard said.
"Still trying to figure out the course. I think that helped me just be in the moment and just be 100 per cent on every shot. Good day today.
"I'm trying to look away from the leaderboards and even though they are right there, it feels, like, magnetic.
"I think it helps to be in those positions. I know it's still Thursday, but yeah, still big names, big crowds, big tournament.
"So I know last year I would have been shaking coming up 18. But now I feel more relaxed knowing that I've hit good shots in those positions, so that definitely helps."
Nørgaard climbed into the red numbers from nine feet at the third, only to give back the shot at the sixth.
He bounced back immediately with another birdie putt from nine feet at the next before sticking his approach at the eighth to concessional range for back to back gains.
A lengthy 28-foot putt at the 11th saw him move to three under and he narrowly missed an eagle effort at the next to improve further.
His putter was hot once again at the 15th when he rolled in from 21 feet to reach five under and when he drained another birdie effort from ten feet at the 17th, he was the joint leader with Rory McIlroy at six under.
The Northern Irishman bogeyed the last after going out of bounds to slip adrift of Nørgaard as he became the sole name at the summit with a daunting benchmark for the late starters.
Baldwin's blemish-free 65 saw him move one clear, with Belgium's Thomas Detry joining the Dane at six under after eight birdies and two bogeys.
