Joost Luiten picked himself up from his closing disappointment on Sunday to fire an excellent opening 65 at the 2020 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
The Dutchman headed into the final round at the Oman Open in a share of the lead but carded his highest round of the season so far with a 75, which left him five shots out of a play-off but did secure a first top ten of the season.
A six time European Tour winner, Luiten has been around long enough to know how to bounce back and he carded seven birdies and a single bogey to sit just one shot off the lead after 18 holes at Education City Golf Club.
“I am absolutely pleased," he said. "Seven birdies and one dropped shot.
"It wasn’t really needed that dropped shot coming out of the middle of the fairway but on a golf course like this where it is really tricky on and around the greens, I was out of position, so sometimes you just have to accept the bogey.
"All in all, I am happy with my game.
“Yesterday and Tuesday were really bad (winds) so I didn’t do a lot of practise because you can ask yourself if it really helps if you hit into a 50 mile and hour wind on the range. So I tried to stay away from it and played the course, get to know it a bit better and it was beautiful today.
“I think on the golf course if you are in the fairway you can be pretty aggressive to the undulated greens. I hit my irons and driver beautiful today which created a lot of chances and I rolled in a couple of putts."
