Rafa Cabrera Bello continued his love affair with Austria as he carded a first-round 64 at the Austrian Alpine Open presented by Kitzbühel Tirol.
Austria has been a happy hunting ground for the Spaniard, who claimed his maiden victory as a professional on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2006 and won his first DP World Tour title there in 2009.
Cabrera Bello, one of the most experienced players on the DP World Tour with this week marking his 470th start, also finished runner-up at Austria's national open in 2015.
But his appreciation for the country does not just stem from experiences on the course, he was also a regular visitor to the alpine setting of Kitzbühel for skiing holidays as a child.
And he looked right at home once again as he quickly got to grips with new DP World Tour venue Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith, posting eight birdies to sit at six under - two back of early Chinese pacesetter Yanhan Zhou.
"I have a little bit of a love affair with Austria," he said.
"It actually started here in Kitzbühel because I have been coming here to ski for many years as a kid. My parents brought us here and it is really fun for me to be here in the summer."
Since his breakthrough DP World Tour win 17 years ago, Cabrera Bello has won three further DP World Tour titles while he represented Europe at the Ryder Cup in 2016.
Among those to tee off at the tenth in the first round, the 42-year-old, who celebrated his birthday on Monday, played his front nine in one under as he mixed three birdies with two bogeys.
But he then reeled off four birdies in a row from the first, before a closing birdie left him well placed on the leaderboard and pleased with how his game is feeling as he makes the eighth start of his career at the event.
"It's been a great start," he said. "I felt I played pretty good today, pretty solid tee to green. I didn't really give myself many bogey chances.
"The bogeys were three putts which can happen anywhere. But I holed some good putts, testers as well for birdies and the wedge shots into the pin were very good and that helped me to score."
Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith is hosting the Austrian Open for the first time this week as the DP World Tour stages an event at its 465th different venue.
Cabrera Bello believes the two nines are distinct in nature, with a strong climax - including a par three to finish - ensuring drama to the finish.
"The first nine is definitely more hilly, a lot of elevation involved," he said. "Some fairways that are hard to hit. It gets off to a relatively easy start off the tee where you don't need to hit your driver until the par five [fourth] if you want to.
"The back nine is the opposite, more in front of you, definitely some tough tee shots and some really good holes to finish. Overall, it is a good balance.
"I like tough finishes, when the tournament is on the line, when you start asking yourself some questions that is when you want to play good. Having a good finish like this will really produce a strong winner."
