France took the early lead as birdies were few and far between on the opening morning of the ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf at Kingston Heath Golf Club.
The Illustrious event was back on the calendar for the first time since 2013, with home favourite Adam Scott looking to defend the title he won with Jason Day alongside new partner Marc Leishman.
The two-man teams were playing in foursomes on Thursday and it was Victor Dubuisson and Romain Langasque who turned in 33 to get to two under and open up a one-shot lead over Italy, Portugal and Venezuela.
The French duo opened with a birdie as Langasque put the approach to tap-in range and another birdie followed on the ninth as the 2016 Challenge Tour graduate once again gave Dubuisson an easy putt.
Ricardo Gouveia and José-Filipe Lima had played one hole less and they had a birdie on the eighth, while playing partners Jhonattan and Julio Vegas had two birdies and a bogey in their first eight holes.
Italy had played just two holes and Francesco Molinari tidied up the putt on the second after Matteo Manassero had put a tee-shot close on the par three.
Søren Kjeldsen and Thorbjørn Olesen were teamed up for Denmark and they had two birdies and two bogeys in their opening five holes, with Olesen holing impressive putts on the second and fifth.
CT Pan and Chan Shih-chang were also level par at the turn for Chinese Taipei with Ashun Wu and Li Haotong - both European Tour winners this season - at the same mark for China after five holes.
England, South Korea, New Zealand and Japan were also level in the very early stages of their rounds.
