Sebastian Söderberg carded a flawless opening 63 featuring an eagle at the par-5 12 to take the lead at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed.
“There’s a lot of family and friends here and it’s easy to put extra pressure on yourself wanting to play good in front of them.
“I did feel a little extra adrenaline on the first tee which doesn’t happen that often on Thursday but I got off to a good start and it was nice to have everyone out there the whole day.
“I felt like I hit my driver a little longer than I usually do and that gave me a few shorter clubs in, every miss was in the right spot and I gave myself a lot of good chances and the putter was quite hot. I saw the lines good and rolled them in and it was a pretty solid day.”
The Swede has recorded three top-10s so far this year, including back-to-back solo and tied runner-up finishes at the Hero Indian Open and the ISPS HANDA Championship.
In second place are South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli and England’s Alex Fitzpatrick who both shot bogey-free 65s with Fitzpatrick making eagle at the par-5 3rd hole.
Malaysia’s Gavin Green lies in solo fourth place at 6-under.
The Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed field consists of 78 men and 78 women who play in the same groups for one prize fund and one trophy.
Sweden’s Linn Grant and Ireland’s Lauren Walsh who play on the Ladies European Tour are among a five-way tie for fifth place at 5-under.
Walsh stayed bogey-free but Grant, who became the first female DP World Tour winner when she won this event last year, produced an eagle at the par-5 3rd and a double bogey at the par-4 16th.
