Lucas Bjerregaard turned in 30 to take a share of the early lead as the Porsche European Open eventually got under way at Golf Resort Bad Griesbach.
The start was delayed by three hours and 25 minutes in Germany due to fog but once the mist cleared, blue skies and bright sunshine provided excellent scoring conditions.
Bjerregaard was one of those to take advantage, posting five birdies on the front nine to sit alongside Gary Stal and Steve Webster at the summit early on day one.
The big-hitting Dane found some excellent form at this stage of the 2015 season and while he has not yet claimed his breakthrough victory, he has made his last four cuts and sits 79th on the Race to Dubai.
He birdied the first and third on Thursday and then a hat-trick of gains from the fifth saw him share the lead on a congested leaderboard.
Frenchman Stal started on the back nine and was among a host of players to take advantage of the par five tenth and 12th, birdieing his first hole before holing a lengthy eagle putt on the 12th. Further birdies followed on the 16th and 18th and he was five under after 11 holes.
Englishman Webster birdied the tenth and 12th and added further gains on the 13th, 15th and 17th to also share the lead with seven to play.
There were then six players at four under including fast starters James Morrison and Joahim B Hansen, who both birdied their first four holes.
A brilliant approach to the 13th had got Morrison to four under and while he added another birdie on the 15th, he dropped three shots in the next three holes before birdieing the third and fourth.
Hansen had played just four holes.
Bradley Dredge holed a 20-footer on the 12th for an eagle as he got to four under after ten holes, with Michael Hoey holing his second on the first in his opening 13.
Bernd Wiesberger and SSP Chawrasia were both blemish free through seven and 11 holes respectively.
There was then a group of eight players at three under with 61 of the 78 golfers in the first wave level par or better.
