Nicolas Colsaerts fired a bogey-free 67 to join Julien Quesne at the top of the leaderboard on day one of the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
The big-hitting Belgian is without a win on the European Tour since 2012 and finished 97th in the Race to Dubai rankings presented by Rolex last season but is enjoying an excellent bounceback this campaign.
Top three finishes in Mauritius, Sweden and Scotland have helped him get to 39th in this season's standings and a flawless first-round display at Jumeirah Golf Estates handed him a solid platform to improve upon that.
Frenchman Quesne - a two-time winner himself - had three bogeys on his card but birdied four of his last five holes to shoot up the leaderboard and set the early target at five under.
A vastly experienced chasing pack was then trying to leapfrog the duo with Sergio Garcia, Francesco Molinari and Lee Westwood all at four under.
In the battle to win the Race to Dubai, defending champion Rory McIlroy was three over after seven holes with playing partner Alex Noren one under.
Leader Henrik Stenson was one over after six holes and nearest rival Danny Willett was level par.
Quesne turned in 35 and, as he stood on the 14th tee, he was very much part of the pack before a stunning burst of scoring with birdies on the 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th.
There was no such drama for Colsaerts with birdies on the sixth, seventh, tenth and 15th putting him in contention before a stunning approach to the par five last saw him hit the summit.
Garcia was bogey-free through 13 holes with gains on the third, eighth, tenth and 11th, while Westwood had birdies on the second, seventh, eighth and tenth.
Italian Open champion Molinari made a fast start with birdies on the second and third and while he bogeyed the sixth, he picked up further shots on the seventh, ninth and 14th.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Marcus Fraser and Jaco Van Zyl were then in the clubhouse at three under with a large group of players a further shot back.
McIlroy had not been over par here on the front nine since 2011 but he had a lot of work to do to maintain that streak as he three-putted the first and dropped further shots on the fourth and sixth.
