Marc Warren turned in 30 to take the early lead on day one of the Maybank Championship at Saujana Golf and Country Club.
The European Tour was returning to the Kuala Lumpur venue for the first time in eight years and low scoring was the order of the day, with 18 players within four shots of the lead.
Warren made four birdies and an eagle in his first nine holes to get to six under, a shot clear of home favourite Arie Irawan and two ahead of Thailand's Phachara Khongwatmai.
The Scot got off to a quick start, birdieing the first, and he added further gains on the third, fourth and sixth before an eagle on the par five eighth saw him jump out into the lead.
Malaysia's Irawan started on the back nine and he made five straight pars before coming to life from the 15th, reeling off five birdies in a row to sit just a shot off the lead.
Khongwatmai also started from the tenth and he made birdies on the 13th, 15th, 16th and 18th to turn in 32 and sit a further shot back.
Peter Uihlein has three top 20s in his five events so far this season and the American made three birdies in his first five holes to get to three under alongside Swede Robert Karlsson, Italy's Nino Bertasio, who had played ten holes, and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger who had just made the turn.
There was then a group of 11 players at two under including Masters Tournament champion Danny Willett, Commercial Bank Qatar Masters champion Jeunghun Wang, fellow South Korean Soomin Lee, Frenchman Alexander Levy and German Maximilian Kieffer.
Defending champion Marcus Fraser was one under after eight holes.
