Conor Purcell birdied four holes on the back nine to return to even par after a stuttering start to the BMW International Open in Germany.
The Dubliner was four-over par after his bogey on the 10th, which followed an outward nine of 39, which included a double-bogey on the par-5 sixth.
But Purcell, who has two top-20 finishes so far in his maiden season on tour, responded with back-to-back birdies on the par-5 11th and the short 12th to get back to two-over.
He drained a 14-footer for birdie on the 16th before a tap-in birdie on the long 18th hole saw post an opening round 72 to sit on even par in a large grouping on tied-73rd, five strokes adrift of the lead.
There's a quintet of leaders on five-under after Day 1, with England's Marco Penge, Malaysia's Gavin Green, France's Ugo Coussaud, Netherlands' Darius Van Driel and China's Wenyi Ding heading in the field in a very congested leaderboard.
There are no fewer than 23 players within two strokes of the lead, with Jordan Smith, Grant Forrest and Richie Ramsey among them.
Home favourite and two-time major winner Martin Kaymer is in a large cluster of players on two-under par.
