Tommy Fleetwood birdied the last to equal the Yas Links course record and lead after the opening round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
A ten-under-par 62 gave Fleetwood a one-shot advantage over Denmark's Thorbjørn Olesen and American Johannes Veerman.
The World Number Ten came flying out of the blocks with birdies at the first and third either side of an eagle from eight feet at the second.
Further gains followed at the seventh, tenth, 11th and 13th – all of them from inside ten feet during a wonderful display of ball-striking.
It looked like the Englishman would better Sam Valimaki's record 62 when he holed from 12 feet for another gain on the 14th, but chances came and went at the 15th and 16th before Fleetwood was forced to scramble a par on the short 17th after finding sand from the tee.
A superb second to the par-five last did not get the deserved result as Fleetwood's ball rolled into a greenside bunker, but the Ryder Cup star held his nerve to convert from five feet for birdie and the outright lead.
Fleetwood said: "I got off to a great start, I actually didn't feel like I swung it perfectly early on and I felt like I swung it better as we got into the back nine.
"It was a lovely round of golf to play. Putted amazing, felt like I read the greens so well, beautiful pace control and hit a lot of perfect putts and started holing them.
"I'm just happy to have got off to a very good start."
Fleetwood has a new putter in his bag this week and also took advice from former Ryder Cup players David Howell and Ken Brown prior to the tournament.
"I always feel like I'm a good putter - it doesn't always show - but I've been working on that and I chatted to Ken and Howler on the course and we were talking about a couple of things," he added.
"Working on how I move my head in my stroke and what happens there and it's always nice to have a good discussion; they're two of the best putters I've ever met and any time you're talking to those guys, you're going to pick something up."
Olesen birdied the first after a stunning approach to within three feet and added a tap-in gain at the fifth before pitching in for eagle at the par-five seventh.
Another eagle from 15 feet at the long 11th followed, and the Dane followed that with consecutive birdies – the latter from 43 feet – before holing from three feet for a fifth birdie of the day at the last.
“I just putted well all the way around,” Olesen, whose last visit to the United Arab Emirates ended with an eighth DP World Tour title, said.
“Obviously played pretty well as well but the putter was definitely on fire the whole day, and with the conditions of the greens, if you putted really well, you can make a lot of putts. I'm very happy with that.
“I'm excited. I like to play in the Middle East. I always enjoy coming here.”
Veerman eagled the second after a fine second shot to eight feet at the second and added four birdies to turn in 30.
Four birdies in five holes at the start of the back nine – sandwiching a three-putt bogey at the 12th – put him on course to at least match the course record of 62 but a cold putter over the closing holes saw him finish with four straight pars to end the day level with Olesen.
“It went just about as good as I would have hoped - maybe even better,” Veerman said. “I got off to a really fast start.
“The conditions on this course are pure so you're never going to have a bad lie. The putts roll true. It's pretty self-evident in the scoring today but yeah, nine-under, might be my best opening round in a while.
“It is easy to go into these events thinking these are two bonus events, just end of the year, no-cut events which is great. But now you shoot nine-under on the first day and you're pretty happy.
“It's no secret, if you do well this week, there are things on line, like the Majors next year and PGA TOUR cards, and you just embrace it and you just take it one day at a time.”
Italy's Francesco Laporta was in a tie for fourth on eight under with English trio Laurie Canter, Tyrrell Hatton and Paul Waring.
