South African Louis de Jager finished the first round of the Portugal Masters with a two-stroke lead over Englishman Oliver Fisher on Thursday.
De Jager earned his early lead with a bogey-free 63, while Fisher — who carded the first sub-60 round in European Tour history at last year’s edition of the tournament — scored an opening-round 65 to sit joint-second with Justin Walters and Jake McLeod.
“The way I hit the ball and putted, the way I’m reading and seeing the lines, I’m really excited for the rest of the week,” said De Jager after his eight-under-par round.
“It’s only the first day, but I’m feeling confident.”
Seven players were tied for third as Darren Fichardt, David Horsey, Sihwan Kim, Renato Paratore, Matthew Southgate, Brandon Stone and Jeunghun Wang all carded 66.
Meanwhile, top seed Matt Wallace and Ryder Cup-winning captain Thomas Bjorn were among those to finish the round with a score of 67.