Stephen Gallacher and Julian Suri fired opening rounds of 67 to take a share of the first round lead at the Hero Indian Open.
Gallacher has often flourished on tough courses throughout his career, and showed he had the measure of DLF Golf and Country Club last season as he recorded a top ten finish in New Delhi.
Fast forward 12 months and a sensational putt from off the green at the last handed the Scot a closing eagle and a one shot advantage at five under.
It looked for a long time like he would not be caught in the afternoon but American Suri - who missed the cut in his only appearance here last season - produced some magic of his own on the 18th, playing a sublime bunker shot to set up a closing birdie and join Gallacher at the summit.
South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Swede Robert Karlsson, Spaniard Pablo Larrazábal and Thai Prom Meesawat were the nearest challengers, with last week's winner Scott Hend and local hero Shubhankar Sharma in a nine man group two shots off the lead.
Gallacher has made just one cut on the 2019 Race to Dubai so far but showed all the qualities that have made him a three time European Tour winner.
“It was a perfect morning," he said. "Cool to start with and then it heated up later on in the round, and not too much wind, so it was perfect today. Coming back to a place where I’ve played well hopefully I can draw on some inspiration from last year.”
Suri is playing just his second event of the season after undergoing surgery on an abdominal hernia but showed he was back to full health, delighting the crowd with a mic drop celebration after his bunker shot on the last.
“It was a good day," he said. "My caddie Dermot, he keeps encouraging me and calls me the Greatest Showman sometimes after the movie, so I had to give him a little show there. It’s obviously still a work in progress but to shoot a score like this, on a course like this, is a good sign going forward."
Gallacher was part of an eight way tie for the lead early and broke out of that group with a birdie on the ninth that saw him turn in 33 after earlier birdies on the second, fourth and seventh, and a bogey on the third.
Further gains were to follow on the tenth and 11th and the 44-year-old had a two shot advantage but a double bogey on the treacherous 14th dropped him back into a six way share.
There continued to be a tussle for top spot but it was the 2014 Ryder Cup star who leapfrogged them all, finishing right of the final green but holing a sensational long putt from off the putting surface for an eagle and the lead.
In the afternoon, Suri birdied the third and fourth but dropped a shot on the sixth before a hat-trick of birdies from the seventh - concluding when he got on the par five ninth green in two - had him just one back.
He bogeyed the 11th but holed a 20 footer on the 12th and then made five pars before his big finish.
Bezuidenhout bogeyed the second but birdied the fourth to turn in level par and after making gains on the 11th and 12th, he recorded a bogey on the next. He then birdied the 14th and 16th and a ten foot putt on the last made him the first man in at four under.
Larrazábal birdied the 11th and made a two on the par four 13th but he failed to make up much more ground with birdies on the 18th and fourth and bogeys on the 14th, first and sixth. Birdies on the seventh and eighth then catapulted him into a share of second where he was joined by another fast finisher in Karlsson.
The 2008 European Number One turned in 34 with four birdies and two bogeys but then dropped shots on the first, third and fourth. A birdie on the sixth got him back to level par and he pitched in at the par four seventh before chipping in at the par five eighth for a pair of eagles.
Meesawat played 16 holes without a bogey, birdieing the 13th, 18th, fourth and seventh, but missed a short putt on the eighth before a lovely chip on the ninth set up a closing birdie.
England's Ashley Chesters, Japan's Masahiro Kawamura, Thai pair Prayad Marksaeng and Poom Saksansin, Italian Edoardo Molinari, Scot Richie Ramsay and South African Erik van Rooyen were alongside Hend and Sharma at three under.
