Matthew Jordan fired a stunning bogey free 63 to set a new course record at Hillside Golf Club and lead the way midway through day one of the Betfred British Masters.
The 23-year-old is playing on an invite in just his ninth European Tour event but he looked like a seasoned veteran as he moved to nine under on the Merseyside coast.
Swede Marcus Kinhult was his nearest challenger at seven under, three shots clear of tournament host Tommy Fleetwood.
The World Number 16 took big crowds with him despite cold and wet weather and they were not left disappointed as he carded a 68 including an eagle on the second.
Belgian Thomas Detry and Scot Richie Ramsay were at six under, a shot clear of American Sean Crocker and England's Jack Singh Brar.
Jordan only turned professional in September after an excellent amateur career that included a Walker Cup appearance in 2017.
He made the cut on his European Tour debut at last season's KLM Open and has a best finish of tied for 32nd at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Starting on the tenth, Detry birdied the 11th, 12th and 14th but dropped a shot on the 18th.
A birdie on the first saw him pick it back up and he then eagled the second with a putt from the fringe before holing a double breaker from even further off the putting surface for a birdie on the next.
A bogey on the fourth dropped the the 26-year-old back and he was in a four-way tie for the lead at five under.
Jordan was the man to break out of the logjam, birdieing the tenth to add to earlier gains on the first, second, fourth, sixth and eighth. Another birdie on the 11th briefly moved Jordan two clear but Detry took advantage of the par five fifth to get back to six under.
Ramsay started birdie-eagle-birdie from the tenth to turn in 32 and added gains on the first and second but that could not keep pace with Jordan.
The Englishman made his eighth gain of the day on the 13th and after an excellent approach into the 15th, he was nine under and three ahead.
Kinhult had started his round with three birdies and, after a dropped shot on the seventh, he birdied the tenth, 11th, 14th, 15th and 17th to surge into second.
Crocker added an eagle on the 11th to birdies on the second, fifth and eighth in his 67, while Singh Brar had a single blemish with birdies on the 11th, second, third, fifth, seventh and ninth.
After birdies on the second and 17th - thanks to an exquisite pitch - Fleetwood made a stunning par at the first, putting his third shot to four feet after taking a drop from the base of a tree.
He rolled in a 25 footer for eagle on the next and while he dropped a shot on the sixth, he picked it straight back up with an excellent tee shot into the par three seventh.
England's Ashley Chesters and Frenchman Matthieu Pavon were also four under.
