Sweden's Peter Hanson followed up his dramatic play-off hole in one on Monday with a sparkling start to The European Open at The London Club in Kent.
The 31 year old, who grabbed a place in next month's US Open Championship with his ace in the qualifying tournament at Walton Heath, returned a six under par 66 to share the early lead with in form South African Thomas Aiken.
World Number Four Sergio Garcia, meanwhile, recovered from an opening double bogey six to card a 69.
Hanson said: "I think today's score had a little bit to do with Monday. I've been struggling a bit with my long game and that gave me a huge confidence boost.
"It was a fantastic way to come into this, with people patting me on the back and saying 'Well done'."
He almost had back to back holes in one on par threes as his shot to the 208 yard 11th, his second, pitched only a foot from the flag.
After turning in 33 he added further birdies on the second and third - another two there - and came back from a bogey on the next by picking up more shots on the two front nine par fives.
Aiken failed to keep his card last season, but has had an amazing eight top ten finishes in his last ten tournaments and raced through the outward half in a six under 30 to join Hanson.
Garcia, runner-up to Ross Fisher last year, almost hooked into water with his opening drive, but although it avoided the lake the ball was in rough so thick that he moved his next shot only three feet and then had to hack it onto the fairway.
"I didn't hit that bad a shot, but I was punished really hard," he said.
"I just tried to stay patient and on the front nine I rolled a couple of nice putts in."
The one for eagle at the fifth was from almost 60 feet. Garcia was paired with Fisher and World Number Five Henrik Stenson.
The defending champion, who opened with a course record 63 last July and went on to win by seven, had to settle for a 73.
Indian Jeev Milkha Singh was five under to be in joint third spot with compatriot Shiv Kapur, Irishman Peter Lawrie, England's Simon Khan and Italian Alessandro Tadini.
Out on the course, France’s Jean-François Lucquin raced to five under through his first 12 holes and England’s Graeme Storm made a good start to reach four under after eight.
