Italy's Matteo Manassero claimed a share of the first round lead in the Hero Indian Open after a flawless 65 helped him join Joost Luiten and Keita Nakajima at the top of the leaderboard.
Manassero, who secured his first DP World Tour victory in over a decade earlier this month, carded an eagle and five birdies at DLF Golf and Country Club, while France's Romain Langasque lies a shot off the pace alongside the English duo of Sam Bairstow and Jordan Smith, but pre-tournament favourite Rasmus Hojgaard struggled to an opening 79.
Manassero became the youngest winner in DP World Tour history – aged 17 years and 188 days – in 2010 and claimed his fourth title in the prestigious BMW PGA Championship in 2013, but lost his card in 2018 and briefly stepped away from the game five years ago.
The 30-year-old won twice on the Challenge Tour last year to regain his playing privileges and secured his fifth DP World Tour title in the Jonsson Workwear Open on March 10.
"Every time a tournament starts there's a blank page," Manassero said. "You prepare, but on a course like this things can go the wrong way very easily.
"Today was a really special day. I played so good from tee to green so I'm really pleased about that and not making any bogeys on a course like this. Seven under par is really good.
"I tried to be as focused as possible and as hungry as possible last Thursday, but it wasn't my week. I made a lot of birdies but dropped so many shots.
"It's never easy [after a win], there's a lot of congratulations and greetings, which is really nice, but it makes you feel too relaxed to perform. You need to be on the spot to perform and with a positive tension and adrenaline."
The most incredible round of the day belonged to Sweden's Sebastian Soderberg, who carded a one-under-par 71 despite making nine birdies.
Soderberg followed a par on the first with six straight birdies, only to run up an eight on the eighth after finding water off the tee and with his approach to the par five.
Another birdie on the ninth took Soderberg out in 32, but he also made a quadruple-bogey eight on the 14th in a back nine of 39.
