Swiss amateur Nicola Gerhardsen got the home crowd cheering after a brilliant opening round of 65 at the Omega European Masters.
The 22-year-old is appearing at the event held at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club for the fifth time in his short career, but Thursday's first round was by far his best.
He rolled in seven birdies and two bogeys for a five-under-par 65 in wet conditions at Crans Montana, which left him one shot behind clubhouse leader Matt Wallace.
Gerhardsen has never made the cut at his home tournament, but he gave himself every chance of playing at the weekend for the first time in the Swiss Alps.
"Yeah it was great. I was going into it with the goal of just taking it shot by shot," the local favourite said.
"It's obviously not a usual week for me with the public and everything watching me, and I think I've done a great job with that by staying in the present and in the moment with my caddie.
"That was my goal and I was able to do it successfully and came off with a nice round.
"I don't think I have ever experienced weather like this in the five years I have played in it so the course definitely played a bit different. I was hitting different clubs on different holes than it usually is and I've done a great job in committing to those decisions and those clubs.
"It is what you dream of, obviously. It was such a cool experience to have loads of people out there supporting me and hopefully it's going to be a long week."
