Gavin Moynihan shot one over on his professional debut on the European Tour as Nicolas Colsaerts fired eight birdies in a row on his way to a "pretty easy" 63 to claim the first-round lead in the Italian Open on Thursday.
The Island's Moynihan had a mixed day on the Monza links as he hit four bogeys and three bogeys en route to shooting an opening 73 to sit ten shots off the lead in a tie for 121st.
Starting on the back nine at Golf Club Milano in the Parco Reale di Monza, home to the world famous motor racing circuit, Colsaerts began with four pars before five straight birdies from the 14th took him out in 31.
Colsaerts then got up and down from a greenside bunker on the par-five first and also birdied the second and third to make it eight in a row, although the preferred lies in operation mean the 32-year-old did not officially equal the European Tour record.
However, a ninth birdie of the day on the eighth gave Colsaerts a two-shot lead over India's Shiv Kapur, home favourite and former champion Francesco Molinari and Sweden's Kristoffer Broberg.
Ireland's Peter Lawrie and Paul McGinley were both five shots behind Colsaerts after shooting 68s.
Major winners Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke were two under after both carded 70, with Harrington's round including an eagle on the 16th (his seventh).
Damien McGrane was level par while Moynihan, Simon Thornton and Kevin Phelan were all one over.
Colsaerts has not won since claiming the World Match Play Championship in 2012, which persuaded European captain Jose Maria Olazabal to give him a wild card for the contest in Medinah.
The former world number 32, now ranked 218th, has also been overtaken as Belgian number one by compatriot Thomas Pieters, who won his second event in succession in the KLM Open last week.
"It all felt pretty easy to be fair," Colsaerts told Sky Sports 4. "We all know what it's like when you get on fire and keep going. I did not know how many (in a row) it was; at one stage I started counting and stopped at six.
"It did feel like you could birdie every hole because I was playing nicely. I only holed a very long one on the second, which was my 11th, but all the others were very makeable.
"I have been playing for a while and I was kind of waiting for a round like this where everything clicks together. I kept on missing shots here and there that make a difference, where today everything just went together."
Molinari, who was part of the victorious European teams in 2010 and 2012, has not played since the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits after his wife Valentina gave birth to the couple's second child last month.
The world number 52's last win also came in 2012 in the Spanish Open, six years after he became the first home winner of the Italian Open since 1980.
Molinari and Kapur both carded eight birdies and one bogey in their rounds of 65, with Broberg firing nine birdies and two bogeys.
"I am happy with that. It went quite smoothly considering I was coming from four weeks off," Molinari said. "You show up on the tee at a tournament and it's always slightly different so I had a few questions about my game, but it felt really good today. I have prepared well the last few weeks to get here in good form and it showed today.
"It always gives me that extra motivation to play in front of my home crowd. I wish I could do it more often than once a year."
