Félix Mory matched the lowest round of his DP World Tour career to take a one-shot lead after day one of the Danish Golf Championship.
The Frenchman overcame consecutive bogeys on the back nine by going birdie-eagle on the 16th and 17th to card a course-record 65 and hit the front on seven under.
Local hero Lucas Bjerregaard was a shot back alongside South African Brandon Stone, one clear of Italian pair Filippo Celli and Francesco Laporta, China's Wenyi Ding, Finn Oliver Lindell and Germany's Freddy Schott.
HotelPlanner Tour graduate Mory is starting in just his 22nd DP World Tour event and his 65 matches his third-round score from his last start at the ISCO Championship.
The 31-year-old has missed 12 of his 16 cuts so far this season but after making three of his last five, his performance in round one at Great Northern continues a trend that shows he is getting used to Tour life.
"I struggled a bit at the start of the year," said Mory, who has been playing in France with fellow HotelPlanner graduate Oihan Guillamoundeguy during the recent break.
"I didn't think it was going to take me so much to adapt to this new tour because I'd played a few years on HotelPlanner Tour and I didn't think it was going to be so different.
"It's more like the vibe is different. The golf is the same, the courses of course are a bit more difficult and test my game a little more
"I struggled a bit with caddies at the start of the year but now I'm pretty confident with who is on my bag. Clubs as well, I had to do a few changes but now I'm getting the rhythm and trying to enjoy it as much as possible."
Mory produced stellar iron play on the first, third and sixth to set up close-range birdies while he also drove the short par-four fourth and holed a lengthy putt on the ninth to turn in 31.
An up-and-down from the sand on the 11th had him at six under but he slipped back after finding the water at the 13th and missing the green at the next.
A birdie on the short par-four 16th then steadied the ship and he burst out of the leading pack on the par-five 17th, putting his second to nine feet to set up an eagle.
"I like to play in Scandinavia," he added.
"I played really good, pretty solid off the tee, made the putts, pretty accurate with my irons. I didn't miss too many greens because here if you start to miss the greens it's pretty tough to get up and down in some places."
Starting on the tenth, Bjerregaard got up and down on the 11th and hit pinpoint irons into the 12th, 13th and 16th to quickly move up the leaderboard.
An eagle from six feet on the next had him within one and while he three-putted the 18th, he hit a smart approach into the first and took advantage of the fourth to share the lead.
Missed chances from inside six feet on the fifth and seventh were then compunded by a bogey on the eighth but the two-time DP World Tour winner, who currently only has limited status on Tour, was left to reflect on a good day's work.
"It was a great round," he said. "I drove it really nice, hit some good iron shots, made every putt inside ten feet on my front nine.
"I let a couple of chances slip by on the back and then finished with a bogey on my 17th.
"I didn't really know what to expect, I hadn't played for a while. I was a bit nervous about today but it turned out alright.
"I think I've embraced this tournament a lot more the last few years maybe than earlier in my career when I felt the pressure a lot more and wanted to perform.
"The crowd has always been great to me, especially the last few years. I've had so much support like I did today so I'm looking forward to more of that."
Earlier, Stone had mixed four birdies with two bogeys before he birdied the 15th and 16th and also eagled the last, crediting an old putter for his upturn in form.
Ding was bogey-free in his 67, while Celli eagled the 17th with a single dropped shot and Laporta carded six birdies and one bogey.
Schott overcame a double in his round, while Lindell went one better, overcoming a triple after finding water twice on the 14th.
There was then a group of eight players on four under including Major winner Bubba Watson, reigning Volvo China Open champion Bernd Wiesberger and winner of this event in 2015 David Horsey.
