Australia's Scott Hend is just a shot from the lead in the European Tour's season-ending Dubai World Championship after an opening 66.
Hend is tied-second with Justin Rose, a shot behind Patrick Reed of the United States, who opened with a 65.
A bogey at the final hole, where he drove his tee ball into the water that runs along the side of the fairway, cost him the outright lead.
"I'll take a good round any day and I'll take a good tournament, doesn't matter where it is in the season,'' he said. "The way the seasons are at the moment, it's non-stop because next week we start up again in Hong Kong. There's not really any break and you try to play good when you can, play good when you get it because it doesn't happen every week.''
The other Australian in the field, Andrew Dodt, began with a nice two-under par 70.
As for Hend, he was philosophical about the next few days. "Three days is a long way and this golf course can throw up anything. I'm just going to go about doing my job and try to do the best I can. That's all I can ask of myself. Probably had a couple months since Crans (Montana, Switzerland) of not playing well. I think I've found the reason why that is."