Australian Wade Ormsby was first to hit the front as the Johnnie Walker Championships at Gleneagles got under way at The Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland.
The Qualifying School graduate bogeyed the first but fought back with five birdies before the turn to reach four under par through ten holes.
Heavy and prolonged rain on Wednesday brought a change to the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles for the start of the Johnnie Walker Championships at Gleneagles.
The 12th hole, which after last year's event was reduced from a 503 yard par five to a 445 yard par four, had its tee moved forward 165 yards because of the condition of the fairway.
That made it a driveable par four - and in the very first group of the day big-hitting Italian Emanuele Canonica hit his tee shot to 25 feet and made the eagle putt.
Canonica had started his round with a bogey four on the tenth, however, and by dropping another shot at the 13th he returned to level par.
Spaniard Pablo Larrazábal had reached three under by the turn after birdieing the 12th, although he dropped a shot at the 481 yard 13th which was proving extremely testing.
Larrazábal was joined on three under by defending champion Grégory Havret, the Frenchman picking up shots at the tenth, 12th and 16th.
Australian Richard Green and Wales’ Jamie Donaldson were a further shot back as they played their outward nine.
