Romain Langasque made seven birdies in a row to take a share of the lead at the Volvo China Open on Thursday.
"The last time I played here I finished in fifth place. I like this course and I like the way you have to plot your way round. I’ll be honest and admit that I didn’t believe that I could shoot nine under par today so I’m delighted.
"It gives me confidence that I have played well on this golf course in the past and I felt comfortable out there today. I didn't try too hard today and that approach paid off."
The Frenchman and Sweden's Sebastian Söderberg both shot bogey-free, 9-under 63s.
Söderberg leads the Asian Swing Rankings which concludes on Sunday. The winner will gain £200,000 in prize money, exemption for the Back 9 events of the DP World Tour campaign and the top three will gain a spot at the US PGA Championship.
"I guess it would be really nice," said Söderberg. "It is the first Swing I have been involved in and I'm not really that focused on putting tournaments together like that usually. But obviously it means spots into a Major, then you are paying extra attention to stuff like that."
China's Haotong Li shot a bogey-free 64 to take solo third place at 8-under followed a shot further back by the Czech Republic's Gordon Brixi and and France's Julien Guerrier who both stayed bogey-free as well as Italy's Guido Migliozzi.
