An impressive seven-under-par 64 sees Daniel Gavins top the leaderboard after the opening round of the Magical Kenya Open.
The world number 70 started on the back nine and opened with a birdie, however, he found himself one-over after five holes following back-to-back bogeys on 13 and 14.
But then the Leeds native hit a rich vein of form, posting six birdies in seven holes around the turn, before picking up another two shots in the final three holes, including a 70-foot birdie putt on the finishing ninth.
Gavins takes a one-shot lead into the second round with American Johannes Veerman and India's Shubhankar Sharma posting six-under 65s.
Four Irish sit in a tie for 40th place heading into Friday's action, as Paul Dunne, Cormac Sharvin, Gavin Moynihan and Niall Kearney all posted one-under-par rounds of 70.
Jonathan Caldwell is in danger of missing the weekend cut following a disappointing five-over opening-round 76.
"It was pretty rusty to start with, I hadn't played for a couple of weeks but I just started holing a few putts," said Gavins, who won the ISPS Handa World Invitational last year.
"My second shot at the ninth hit the flag and it knocked it 60 or 70 feet back down the green. Obviously I holed the 70-footer which was a bit surprising but it was nice to finish with a birdie.
"My swing has been a bit off at the start of the year and I’ve been struggling a little bit with finding the feeling really, but today I felt a few things that were nice and it was positive."
Veerman began his round with a tap-in eagle on the par-five 10th, his opening hole of the day, while Sharma carded six birdies and no bogeys in a flawless 66.
England’s Lee Slattery and Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson are two shots off the pace on five under par, with defending champion Justin Harding another two strokes back following a 68.
