Miguel Angel Jiménez put himself in position to break his own record as The European Tour’s oldest winner as the 50 year old carded an opening nine under par 63 to lead the Turkish Airlines Open by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
The Spaniard holed his first approach shot of the day to the tenth for eagle and followed that up with seven birdie in a flawless display.
That left him one ahead of Ian Poulter, with rookie Tyrrell Hatton, Australian Wade Ormsby and Zimbabwe’s Brendon de Jonge on seven under in Antalya.
Jiménez carded a final round of 88 in the first event of the Final Series, the BMW Masters, in Shanghai and also struggled in the following week's WGC-HSBC Champions event to be a total of 33 over par for his last eight rounds.
But the oldest winner in European Tour history - he will celebrate his 51st birthday in January - bounced back brilliantly at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal.
“Nine under par on this course, only first round, it's a good start,” said Jiménez. “It's nice, making a low score.
“I hit a nice lob-wedge on the green [at the tenth]. You play very well, you just try to enjoy yourself, and it's the way to shoot very low – it’s still exciting and I managed today to do that.
“I like the golf course with trees on it. It feels nice and you have everything, you have some long holes, you have some short holes and you have a mix. I feel comfortable on this golf course.
“It's special because I've been struggling a little bit the last few months and you shoot under par, you feel good. Everything is getting close – I started to roll the ball better on the green and everything starts to go close and that helps.”
Poulter changed equipment recently in a bid to halt his slide down the Official World Golf Ranking - he moved from 44th to 40th after finishing joint sixth in Shanghai - but reverted to an old putter in Turkey and produced an eagle, seven birdies and one bogey.
"I'm right there," he added. "Within the space of a couple of weeks, I feel really good about myself. I don't have any aches or pains, which is really nice. I feel strong and that means I can practice. And when I practice and start holing some putts, then I'm going to be full of confidence like I am right now."
Low scoring was the order of the day as 50 of the 78-strong field broke par, but the three players attempting to prevent Rory McIlroy being crowned European Number One for the second time in two years struggled to make an impression on the upper reaches of the leaderboard.
Sergio Garcia, Ryder Cup team-mate Jamie Donaldson and Germany's Marcel Siem can still overtake McIlroy at the top of The Race to Dubai, but only if they win both in Turkey and next week's season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
Siem's 70 was the best the trio could manage, although the BMW Masters winner was five under par after 12 holes, with Donaldson falling back from three under to level par and Garcia struggling to a 75.
Starting on the back nine, Garcia had made the ideal start with a birdie on the par five 10th, but after a string of pars the Spaniard three-putted the 18th and also took six on the par five first.
After a birdie on the second Garcia carded another six on the fourth and things went from bad to worse on the sixth, where the World Number Four found water off the tee and also lost a ball on his way to a triple bogey seven.
That left Garcia 12 shots off the lead in joint 64th, with Colin Montgomerie - playing his 600th European Tour event on the course he designed - a shot worse off after a 76.
Tee times for Friday's second round have been brought forward by 90 minutes due to a forecast for thunderstorms in the area.
