Mikael Lundberg claimed a share of the first round lead at the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity as the Swede seeks a first European Tour title for six years.
The Swede, a winner of the Russian Open in 2005 and 2008, has had to come through Qualifying School in each of the last three seasons but fired a five under par 67 to join Adam Gee at the top of the leaderboard.
Lundberg had six birdies against a single bogey at Diamond Country Club, while Gee holed his approach for eagle at the 13th before adding four gains and dropping his only shot at the 18th.
“I played pretty solid all day and made a few putts, so it all added up to a pretty good day,” said Lundberg.
“Nothing was spectacular today, but everything was pretty solid. I’ve been working well with my new coach, and we’ve made a lot of progress over the past four weeks.
“My long game is working well, my short game comes and goes so I’m still a little bit inconsistent around the greens, but I’m getting there.
“You have to be very careful out there. The course is very firm, so you have to be very precise off the tee - you don’t want to take any unnecessary chances, because you can soon get caught out.”
Gee, who also came through November’s Qualifying School to take his place on the 2014 Race to Dubai, was relieved to have missed the morning’s high winds, with the top five comprised entirely of afternoon starters.
“When we arrived at the course the wind was blowing pretty hard, which is maybe why a few of the guys struggled a bit more in the morning,” he said.
“I think we definitely got the better half of the draw, which was another bit of fortune that went my way, but I’ll certainly take it.
“I’ve been playing quite nicely lately, there were some good signs last week and I’ve continued that progress here. There’s still a long way to go, but the signs are encouraging.”
Wales’ Rhys Davies and English pair Matthew Baldwin and Richard Finch are a shot further back, with home favourite Bernd Wiesberger one under and defending champion Joost Luiten level par.
Wales’ Rhys Davies, American Berry Henson and English pair Matthew Baldwin and Richard Finch are a shot further back.
On a crowded leaderboard a further 19 players were within three shots of the lead, including France's Thomas Levet, who compared his golf to that of the late Seve Ballesteros after an erratic 69.
Levet, who famously broke his leg when celebrating his last European Tour title in the 2011 Alstom Open de France by diving into a greenside lake, said: "I played well after the drives, but my drives were a bit like Seve - left, right and sometimes straight.
"It's been like that all season long. I'm working on it and it's a little better, but today I got lucky a few times in not losing balls off the tee and that made the difference."
The best example of that came on the par five 15th, where Levet hit his drive 100 yards right off the tee but stopped just short of a water hazard. From there he opted to play down a different fairway, then hit a two iron from 227 yards to eight feet and holed out for birdie. "Easy golf," the 2002 Open runner-up joked.
Local favourite Wiesberger's US Open hopes remain in the balance after an opening 71 marred by a double-bogey six on his penultimate hole.
Wiesberger needs to repeat his 2012 triumph in his home event or finish second on his own to qualify for the second Major of the season at Pinehurst next week by moving inside the top 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking from his current position of 69th.
The 28 year old from nearby Vienna said: "The wind is a very strong defence on this course, so one under isn't too bad a start, especially with the way I started.
"I played my back nine pretty well, but one bad swing on the eighth hole really cost me. Other than that, I'm quite happy."
Another "local" favourite, Spain's Miguel Angel Jiménez, went one better than playing partner Wiesberger with a round of 70, the 50 year old having moved to Vienna following his recent wedding to Austrian Susanne Styblo.
