Six birdies on the back nine gave Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts a two-stroke lead after the first round of the KLM Open on Thursday.
Colsaerts hit a flawless eight-under 62 on the opening day at Hilversum in the Netherlands, equalling his lowest-ever score on the European Tour.
The 27-year-old blazed ahead after reaching the turn at two-under, before shooting 29 through the back nine in a scintillating display that concluded with three consecutive birdies.
"It's like a home tournament for me and I grew up playing very similar courses in Belgium so I feel very comfortable here in this course with the trees everywhere and a very traditional layout," Colsaerts said.
"This is my first year back on tour for three years, and it has been very good for me to be able to come back out and feel comfortable straight away and start to get some good results."
"I am realising again that I can compete at the highest level. I am still not happy with the level of my chipping and putting but I am always working on that."
Colsaerts holds an early lead over playing partner Kenneth Ferrie, who dropped a stroke on the 14th hole but recovered to birdie the 17th and eagle the last to finish with a six-under 64 and a share of second with Indian Shiv Kapur.
Kapur birdied three of his first four holes to head the field after the front nine, but dropped strokes on the 9th and 16th holes as he relinquished the lead to Colsaerts.
The 28-year-old recovered to eagle the 499-yard 18th hole to finish on six-under, ahead of a group of seven on five-under led by Nick Dougherty and European Ryder Cup rookie Ross Fisher.
The English duo share fourth place with Argentinean Tano Goya, Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin, Portugal's Jose-Filipe Lima, Scotland's Richie Ramsay and local hero Joost Luiten.
Kiwi Danny Lee heads the Australasian contingent in a tie for 17th place after carding a three-under 67, while Peter O'Malley is the best-placed Aussie a further stroke back.
Brett Rumford and Andrew Dodt have plenty of work to do after carding rounds of 69 and 70 respectively, while Scott Strange (+2), Kiwi Michael Campbell (+2), Richard Green (+4) and Rick Kulacz (+4) face a battle to make the cut.
Martin Kaymar enjoyed a solid start in his first appearance since winning the USPGA Championship, carding a three-under 67 for a share of 17th place.
His Ryder Cup team-mate Francesco Molinari finished one stroke behind on 68.
British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen had a day to forget, finishing three-over par for a share of 124th place.