Francesco Molinari rolled back the years with a stunning 65 to lead by two shots after a windy first round at the 2026 Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
The Italian, who has not been in the winner's circle since claiming The 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie in 2018, made light work of the breezy conditions at Emirates Golf Club thanks to eight birdies and one dropped shot.
Molinari has returned to form after an indifferent 2025 DP World Tour campaign with a top-ten finish at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player in December before making the cut at last week's Dubai Invitational.
He briefly joined Mikael Lindberg at the summit before the Swede closed with a birdie to set the clubhouse target at five under.
However, Molinari - already a Rolex Series winner at the 2018 BMW PGA Championship - finished his round with three consecutive birdies to carve open a two-shot advantage and take the overnight lead.
"Not super unexpected, but I wasn't expecting a score like that," Molinari admitted.
"Last week I felt very rusty, so I was hoping it would be very good prep for this week.
"Yeah, putter was the biggest difference to be honest. Made some nice putts. Kept the round going in the middle where I played a couple of iffy holes and made some good pars. Obviously very, very pleased with the start.
"It's tricky, but I did a good job of staying in the moment. Like we always say, not get too flustered one way or the other, and at the end of the day, obviously you add them up and it's pretty good."
The 43-year-old made a fast start to his round with a tap-in birdie at the tenth before finding the cup from the fringe at the 11th to reach two under.
He gave that shot back at the 12th, but responded immediately with a birdie at the next before holing a 20-foot effort for another gain at the 14th.
Molinari had to wait until the fourth for his next birdie, but it was worth it as he curled home a 65-foot putt to reach four under and share the lead with Lindberg and Joel Girrbach, who was in the clubhouse at four under.
Lindberg birdied the last to jump ahead, only for Molinari to find the cup with a birdie putt at the seventh to rejoin the lead.
An approach to five feet at the eighth yielded another birdie and when he followed that up with a similar second shot into the ninth for birdie, Molinari led by two.
Lindberg went birdie-eagle-birdie from the second to surge into contention and led the way with another gain to start his back nine.
His only dropped shot came at the 16th, but responded with birdie at the 18th to set the initial target before being overhauled.
JC Ritchie started with an eagle at the tenth before birdies at the 13th and 18th offset a bogey at the 15th.
The South African moved to within one of Molinari with a hat-trick of birdies from the second, but he double-bogeyed the sixth and finished at four under.
Swiss player Girrbach opened with a bogey, but bounced back with an eagle and three birdies for his 68.
Japan's Yuto Katsuragawa, China's Wenyi Ding, Spaniard Manuel Elvira, Italy's Andrea Pavan, Germany's Nicolai von Dellingshausen and American pair Patrick Reed and Johannes Veerman were in a share of fifth at three under.
Play was suspended at 5.50pm local time due to darkness, with nine players to complete their first rounds on Friday morning.
