Tyrrell Hatton exceeded his own expectations as an eight-under-par 64 left him one shot off the clubhouse lead at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Hatton is making his first appearance since winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship a month ago and admitted he expected to be rusty following a four-week break.
But his game appeared in excellent shape at Yas Links as ten birdies and two bogeys saw the Englishman join compatriot Paul Waring in an early share of the clubhouse lead before Denmark's Thorbjørn Olesen posted a nine-under 63, with American Johannes Veerman on the same mark out on the course.
“It was a nice way to start the tournament,” said Hatton. “Especially after four weeks off, you don't really feel how you go but sometimes that's kind of nice.
“Expectations aren't high - well, they are high in my head in a weird way. But very happy with that and nice to see some putts go in, too.
“I said a few weeks ago that I really wanted to be able to play here and in Dubai. So to win at the Dunhill was amazing. That sort of allowed me to do that and to give myself some time off.
“I enjoyed my first two weeks off, and then I felt like I had a really productive two weeks of training and getting some good practise in. I'm happy that that kind of showed a little bit today.
“It's been great. It's a little bit odd this week because normally we're here in January and it's the start of the season. I guess in some ways, it's consistent with feeling maybe a little bit rusty coming into this tournament.
“It's great to be back out here, and looking forward to the rest of the week.”
Waring started the week 48th in The Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex and admits he has plenty to play for over the next fortnight, with only the top 50 after this event heading to Dubai for the DP World Tour Championship.
“I played some really good golf, especially midway through the front nine,” he said.
“I had the ball under so much control and putted amazing, and the rest, it adds up to a 64.”
Asked about wanting to improve his position in the standings, he added: “I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to stand here and say it's not (on my mind) but there's other targets, obviously top 25 for The Open, PGA TOUR cards.
“There's so much money to play for these last two events. Two solid weeks will push me right up the list. That's the goal I'm actually going with. It would be great to play next week, don't get me wrong, but the target's a little bit bigger than that in my eyes.”
