Miguel Angel Jiménez rolled back the years to take a share of the clubhouse lead on day one of the Omega European Masters.
The Spaniard, now 53, is the oldest winner in European Tour history thanks to his victory at the Open de España in 2014 at the age of 50 years and 133 days and while he now plays a lot of seniors golf, he still has the game to mix it with the young guns.
The 21-time winner - once before here at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club - showed that again on Thursday with a 64 getting him to six under par alongside England's Tyrrell Hatton and Australian Scott Hend.
Scottish duo David Drysdale and Duncan Stewart, Australian Todd Sinnott and South African Darren Fichardt were then at five under, a shot clear of Brazilian Adilson Da Silva, American Daniel Im, Spaniard Carlos Pigem, Paraguayan Fabrizio Zanotti and amateur Sean Crocker.
Stewart hit the opening tee-shot of the tournament and wasted no time in posting a competitive score with a bogey-free 65.
The Challenge Tour graduate will need a good finish to the season to keep his playing privileges and he was excellent on Thursday, making gains on the fifth, seventh, 14th, 17th and last to set the early target.
Jiménez was a winner here in 2010 and while he made a bogey on the 11th, he bounced back on the 12th, took advantage of the back-to-back par five 14th and 15th and birdied the 18th to turn in 32.
Further gains on the second and third followed and after he got up and down for par from the sand on the sixth, a stunning draw with a three wood off the tee on the signature seventh left him six feet for eagle, although he had to settle for birdie.
Hatton got as high as 14th in the Official World Golf Ranking in March and while he made just two cuts in nine events since then, he found his form in Switzerland.
He holed his second on the par four 12th and birdies on the 15th, 17th and 18th saw him turn in 30 and lead. A bogey on the first threatened to derail his progress but gains on the sixth and seventh got him back on top.
Hend was defeated here in a play-off last season and recorded just a single bogey as he enjoyed the mountains again.
He made a hat-trick of birdies from the 13th and while he dropped a shot on the 16th, he picked it back up on the 18th. Birdies on the second and seventh put him in contention and a closing gain saw him share top spot.
Drysdale holed his second on the par four second and after bogeying the next, birdies on the seventh, tenth, 12th, 14th and 16th had him in a share of the lead before he bogeyed the 17th.
Sinnott made four birdies in a row from the 14th and then added another on the ninth, while Fichardt was also bogey-free with gains on the 13th, 15th, fifth, seventh and ninth.
Im made the 31st ace of the season and 999th in European Tour history as his seven iron from 203 yards took one bounce and rolled into the cup on the eighth to add to gains on the 13th, 15th, seventh and ninth after he had started with bogeys on the 11th and 12th.
Zanotti had set the early pace as he went birdie-eagle-birdie from the 13th and he bounced back from bogeys on the first and fourth with gains on the eighth and ninth.
Pigem added a birdie on the last to gains on the third, tenth and 14th, while Da Silva was also bogey-free with birdies on the fifth, sixth, 11th and 15th. Crocker had two bogeys and six birdies in his 66.
England's Matthew Fitzpatrick, Swede Peter Hanson and Dutchman Joost Luiten were then at three under.
Lee Westwood fired an opening one over par 71 in his 500th European Tour start.
