Stephen Gallacher turned in 33 to take an early one shot lead on the opening day of the Hero Indian Open at DLF Golf and Country Club.
The notoriously testing layout was living up to its reputation once more, with just 20 players under par in the early stages, and Scot Gallacher was the best of them at three under.
Malaysia's Gavin Green, Australian Scott Hend, Japan's Masahiro Kawamura, Spaniard Pablo Larrazábal, Italian Edoardo Molinari, England's James Morrison and South Korean Jeunghun Wang were then all a shot back.
Gallacher birdied the second but gave the shot straight back before making gains on the fourth, seventh and ninth.
Wang has made just four cuts from 11 this season and has never made the weekend at this event but made a mockery of that form on Thursday morning.
He picked up shots on the third and sixth to share the early lead and when he made another gain on the par five eighth, he was out in front on his own.
Larrazábal joined him as he holed his second on the par four 13th after a birdie on the 11th, and a Wang bogey on the next left the four time winner out in front.
Molinari added to a gain on the 11th with further birdies on the 14th and 15th, and Kawamura went birdie-eagle from the third to briefly join the lead but dropped a shot on the fifth.
Larrazábal also made a bogey on the 14th and when Molinari then dropped a shot on the 16th, there was an eight way tie at two under which Gallacher broke out of at the turn.
Last week's winner Hend admitted that he was still figuring out how to tackle the layout here on Wednesday and he looked to have found the right formula with birdies on the tenth and 13th in his first six holes.
Morrison made a hat-trick of birdies from the 13th after dropping a shot on the 11th, while Green birdied the 13th and 15th.
Home favourite Shubhankar Sharma was among those in a group of 12 at one under.
