Germany's Marcel Siem showed no signs of the neck injury which had threatened his title defence as he made a stunning start to the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco.
Siem, who enjoyed a wire-to-wire win at Golf du Palais Royal 12 months ago, suffered the injury on his flight to Agadir and was advised to pull out of the pre-tournament Pro-Am on Wednesday.
The 33 year old said he was prepared to play through the pain barrier in order to try and claim a fourth European Tour title and soon found himself in contention to do just that thanks to five birdies in his first six holes.
Starting from the tenth, Siem birdied his first three holes and after a par on the 13th, picked up further shots on the 14th and 15th.
At five under par he shared the lead with England's Richard Bland, who had made an identical start on the other side of the course, with English trio Ross Fisher, Tom Lewis and Tommy Fleetwood among a group of players on three under.
Fisher, who won for the first time in almost four years at the Tshwane Open a fortnight ago, was playing alongside Siem and also carded birdies on the tenth, 14th and 15th.
The third member of the marquee group, South African George Coetzee, was level par after a birdie on the tenth and bogey on the 11th. The World Number 56 is looking for a good performance to move into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking by March 31 to secure a place in the Masters Tournament at Augusta National.
However, that was now two shots behind Fleetwood, who had eagled the 17th and birdied the eighth to cover the back nine in just 30 shots.
At six under, the Johnnie Walker Championship winner led by one from South African Jaco van Zyl, who had started his round with an eagle on the tenth and picked up birdies on the 13th, 16th and 17th.
There was also a hole-in-one for France’s Alexander Levy, whose tee shot at the 208 yard second skipped into the cup before a double bogey at the next took the 23 year old back to level par.
At two under par he was now four off the lead shared by Fleetwood and Scotland's Marc Warren, who had covered the back nine in 32 and picked up shots on the third and fifth.
