Sergio Garcia sits atop the leaderboard at the 2017 Omega Dubai Desert Classic after carding a seven-under 65 in windy conditions on Thursday.
Felipe Aguilar and George Coetzee sit one shot behind on 66 while Ian Poulter is one of four players on five under, with Graeme McDowell and Henrik Stenson among those another shot further back.
Six golfers were unable to complete their rounds due to bad light and will need to play the last two holes on Friday morning.
Here is the top of the leaderboard as things stand after the first day:
The full leaderboard can be found at the European Tour's official website.
Thursday Recap
Garcia enjoyed the perfect start to his round as he birdied the 10th hole with a well-taken putt, and two outstanding approach shots helped him make further gains at the 12th and 17th.
Two more birdies followed at the 18th and the second, before a stunning second shot on the third hole left him with a simple four-foot putt for an eagle.
The Spaniard picked up one final shot at the fifth before losing it on the eighth—the only blemish of his day—to cap an otherwise excellent opening round.
The European Tour shared the highlights on their official Twitter feed:
He also opened up on his strong round:
According to the Tour's official website, the 37-year-old added: "I think there were a lot of good positives out there. I played quite nicely, hit some really nice shots and made some really nice putts here and there. So overall, I was very happy with it. I felt like I was quite committed for pretty much every shot I hit."
Behind him, Coetzee bounced back from an opening bogey on the first hole to rack up seven birdies, including back-to-back efforts at the third and fourth and the 16th and 17th.
A composed outing from Aguilar saw him card a bogey-free round—he and Stenson were the only golfers in the top 10 on Thursday to do so.
The highlight of Poulter's round was a sensational 50-foot putt at the 15th:
It put him two under after birdies at the 10th and 13th along with a bogey at the 12th, and further gains at the 16th, 18th and ninth kept him in contention.
A marquee group comprising defending champion Danny Willett, Tiger Woods and Matt Fitzpatrick also took part, albeit with mixed fortunes:
Garcia has put himself in an excellent position to build on heading into the weekend, and if he handles the conditions as well as he did on Thursday, he could be in contention to win it.
There are plenty of strong players hot on his heels, though, so there's room for the leaderboard to change on Friday.