Viktor Hovland continued his fine recent form as he got his quest for a first Rolex Series title off to a fine start at the 2022 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The Norwegian won his final two events of 2021 on the US PGA Tour and was going for a third win in four worldwide at Yas Links.
He carded a 64 containing just a single bogey on day one to match his lowest score on the DP World Tour and sit one behind leader Scott Jamieson.
"It was nice," he said. "I didn't hit the best shots early on but managed to get away with it and made a bunch of putts today.
"There are some tricky pins out there and obviously the greens are very severe.
"I don't know, this grass, I just feel really comfortable putting on the paspalum grass and I read the greens perfectly. I just started on my line and this is a day where those putts go in and I was able to take advantage of it."
Belgian Thomas Pieters was a shot behind Hovland but admitted he would be happy with level par in the second round should the expected high winds arrive on day two.
"I didn't miss a green, which is always nice because you don't really know how your game... it's the first 18 holes I played since Dubai last year so it's quite nice to start like this.
"I thought the first 12 holes were relatively easy I would say and the last three or four holes were quite tricky, at least a two-and-a-half-club wind but still manageable.
"The greens are big so you can bail out places but if you leave yourself some long putts like I did, it's pretty tricky.
"We will be the guinea pigs, if we are four over after four holes, maybe they can call it because it's looking like a lot of wind, so I don't know. If I can shoot something level par tomorrow, I think I'll be fine."
