France's Grégory Bourdy raced into an early two shot lead as the first round fo the Iberdrola Open began in Mallorca.
The three-time European Tour champion raced out of the blocks with four consecutive birdies from the 16th and seven in his first 12 holes to be six under with six holes to play.
The 29 year old, already a runner-up in Malaysia this year, completed an outward 31 after staring at the tenth before birdieing the first and holing from six feet at the third.
Leading the chase at Pula Golf Club were Scottish rookie Scott Jamieson - third last week in Spain - and English pair Danny Willett and Miles Tunnicliff.
Past and present Ryder Cup Captains Colin Montgomerie and José Maria Olazábal were amongst the afternoon starters, having flown in from Pedreña after attending Seve Ballesteros' funeral on Wednesday.
"It has been an emotional week but I think that Seve would want us all to play on and keep going for his sake and for all our sakes," Montgomerie said prior to teeing off.
"We look forward to enjoying our golf and playing on, starting here on a course that José Maria has been involved in the re-shaping of. He has played many of my courses and it's about time I played one of his.
"The only thing is that I haven't had a practice round but the show must go on and that is what we are here for - to promote the game and I think we have to now celebrate the life of Seve Ballesteros in every way.
"He was such a great talent and a great man and to be there yesterday in his home town and see so many people out there in honour of Seve the person; not the golfer, the person, was amazing to see. It is much more important to be seen as a good person than it is to be seen a good golfer or journalist or business person or whatever it is that you do in life."
