Denmark's Anders Hansen, last man into the Volvo Masters and first man to tee off in it, threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the field with a lightning-fast 66 at Valderrama this morning, as Ireland's Peter Lawie chased him in second place.
With a field of 57 for the European tour's season-ending event one player was always going to have to play on his own at the head of things. That was Hansen, last year's Volvo PGA champion, and he made brilliant use of the opportunity to play at his own pace by completing his six under par round in under three hours.
The Dane gave the tournament a lift-off with the simplest of birdies at the 389-yard first - perfect drive, pitch to eight feet and straight in the middle. "I'm leading - on my own. But this is too strange," he said. The hole had taken him less than five minutes. He then got up and down from left of the second green before rolling in further birdie putts from 15 feet at the fourth, 20 feet on the short sixth and then eight feet at the 540-yard next to turn in 32. Further birdies came on the long 11th and the 454-yard last as he finished five holes clear of the group behind - and three shots in front of Ireland's Peter Lawrie.
The Dubliner, almost certain to be named the tours' Rookie of the Year, was out in 33 after birdies at the fifth, seventh and eighth, double-bogeyed the 389-yard 10th, but came straight back with more birdies at two of the next three.
The big names were out later in the day, favourites Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington paired together and Colin Montgomerie teeing off with Jose Maria Olazabal, the man who beat him in the final of the British amateur championship at Formby 19 years ago.
The rest of the Irish: Paul McGinley +1 (after eight holes), Gary Murphy +3 (after 16).