The UK’s Oliver Fisher fired three straight birdies to end his first round at 7-under, good for a one-stroke lead.
Fisher was 5-under through 12 before suffering his lone bogey of the day. He turned it around with the three straight birdies to take a 1-stroke lead on Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello.
Bello had a bogey-free round, to put himself one stroke ahead of the massive logjam tied for third that consists of 11 players at 5-under.
Included in that mix are is Ernie Els, with Justin Rose one of eight players a stroke back at 4-under.
Defending tournament champion Sergio Garcia shot a 3-under 69, one of 12 men to do so, creating another bottleneck at 22nd place.
Garcia was 1-over after a bogey on No. 6, but turned things around with four birdies in his final 11 holes.
Ranked sixth in the world, Garcia is in his 2015 debut on the Euro Tour. His only win of 2014 came here with a 16-under 272, although he flirted with two more victories – finishing tied for second at The Open Championship and alone in second two weeks later at the WGC-Bridgestone.
He failed to make the top 10 at this last four tournaments of 2014 including a lackluster T-35th at the PGA Championship.
In all, 82 players shot par or better on the first day.
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