Thomas Pieters was the man to catch at the top of the leaderboard when the first round of the weather-affected Hero Dubai Desert Classic was suspended due to fading light on Thursday evening.
Heavy overnight rain meant all tee times were delayed by six hours and five minutes on day one, with play finally getting under way at 13.15 local time.
Only the first wave of starters teed off on Thursday - with the other half of the field having to wait until Friday - and just 12 players managed to complete their first rounds before the daylight ran out.
Belgian Pieters suffered the disappointment of missing the cut at last week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship as his title defence fell flat.
But he bounced back brilliantly at the second Rolex Series event of the season at Emirates Golf Club, carding six birdies and a single bogey in his first 15 holes to get to five under par.
England's Daniel Gavins had sat alongside Pieters when the hooter sounded but opted to finish up at the 18th in near-darkness and surrendered a bogey to join the large group on four under.
Gavins and countrymen Oliver Wilson and Matthew Jordan signed for 68s to set the early clubhouse target, while last week's winner Victor Perez, Tommy Fleetwood and Patrick Reed were also on four under with a few holes remaining.
Nicolas Colsaerts, Ryan Fox, Fabrizio Zanotti and Matt Wallace were another shot back with holes still to complete.
Play will restart at 08.00 local time on Friday morning, while the second wave will start their first rounds from 08.20.
Pieters started at the tenth tee on Thursday and produced a good up-and-down from a bunker at the short 11th to keep his card clean.
He holed a monster birdie putt at the 14th but gave the shot straight back on the par-three 15th.
A hat-trick of birdies at the 17th, 18th and first got Pieters' round back on track and he moved to five under with two more gains at the third and fourth.
Pieters had a nine-foot birdie attempt from the edge of the sixth green after the hooter had sounded but had to settle for a par there.
He has vowed not to change much when he comes back to finish off his first round, saying: "I'll try to do the same thing.
"I'm finishing on the seventh, eighth and ninth - tough holes. If I can finish with three pars, I'll have a very nice opening round."
New Zealander Fox almost made a miracle hole-in-one at the par-three seventh moments before the hooter sounded but his ball evaded the hole by a matter of inches.
Gavins made six birdies and two bogeys on Thursday and was pleased with his performance on the greens.
He said: "I feel pretty good. Struggled quite a lot off the tee today, which is a bit frustrating, but my putting kind of held me. I holed quite a lot of nice putts to keep me going. Disappointed with the tee-shots but I'll sort that."
