Marcus Armitage stormed into a commanding four-shot lead after firing a sensational 63 on day one of the 2025 Ras Al Khaimah Championship.
Englishman Armitage, fresh from finishing in a tie for 31st on his first start of the season at last week's Hero Dubai Desert Classic, produced a total of 11 birdies - including five in a row around the turn - and two bogeys in favourable morning conditions.
That saw the 37-year-old set the early clubhouse target at nine under par, and with no-one able to get close to his tally in the afternoon, he found himself four clear of Jack Senior, Alexander Björk and Ivan Cantero at the end of the day.
Armitage began his round from the tenth tee and got off to a dream start, holing from 40 feet for an opening birdie at a tricky hole.
After giving the shot back at the 12th, Armitage took advantage of the par-five 14th to get back under par before closing his front nine with a hat-trick of birdies courtesy of a hot putter.
And his birdie run continued after the turn as he made further gains on the first and second to make it five on the bounce.
The streak was broken by a bogey on the par-five third but Armitage bounced back with a birdie from 16 feet on the short fourth.
He continued to shine on the greens, pouring in another birdie from 18 feet at the sixth before closing his round with back-to-back gains to get to nine under.
Armitage said: "It's been my best score in quite a few years so I'm really pleased with it.
"It just shows that a bit of time off, rest the mind and come back fresh and apply yourself and I've still got the game.
"The putter was on fire. I don't even know how many putts I had but everything I looked at I was thinking about holing. I was just in the zone if that's what you want to call it.
"(The 40-foot putt at the tenth) went in with a lovely pace and it's a tough hole to open up, especially with a 4.30am alarm.
"Jason Scrivener's caddie said to me 'You always hole a couple of 40-footers when we play with you' and I holed a few more after that."
With the wind tending to become stronger in the afternoon at this week's host course, Armitage insists he is looking forward to a different challenge should he be faced with gusty conditions.
He added: "This wind round here can proper blow and I look forward to that challenge as well, so it's nice to get a buffer going forward and we can deal with whatever comes our way tomorrow."
Irishman Pádraig Harrington was among the group in a tie for fifth on four under after carding five birdies and a bogey in his opening 68.
