Scottish professional Paul Wardell and amateur partner Guido Biccochi carded an eight-under-par 56 to claim a one-stroke lead on the opening day of the Gulf Air International Pro-Captain Challenge Grand Final 2007, supported by BMW, in Bahrain.
The Whitekirk pair led from Little Aston professional Brian Rimmer - the 2005 champion - and his captain Neil Andrews, who in turn were a further shot ahead of Royal Mid Surrey's Matthew Pagett and Peter Brooks.
Key to the leaders' good start was the form of five-handicapper Bicocchi, who made four birdies and a two nett one at the 199-yard sixth hole on King Hamad's private golf course in Safriya.
Wardell, who contributed two birdies himself at the 193-yard fourth and short par-four 12th to put them top of the leaderboard, paid tribute to his amateur partner.
"He played good. It does help, we only made three gross bogeys today and I made a couple myself. It was a good team effort," said the 37-year-old, who has been at the club near Edinburgh for eight years. "The course is good and it has been a glorious day."
Bicocchi, celebrating his 32nd birthday, was more than happy with his performance.
"I played well today, I was five under for the holes I got shots on," said the youngest player in the final after nett birdies at the fifth, seventh, 14th and 15th were capped only by his two nett one. We played pretty solidly."
And on his nett eagle at the par three he added: "I didn't hit it very close - it was probably a 25-30 foot putt across the green but Paul had holed for a two so it meant I could go for it."
Wardell, stressed however, that the job was far from done. "You have to give yourself a chance and that is all we have done," he said. "We can lose today but you can't win it. Tomorrow we'll just go and play, not force it, and see what happens."
Little Aston professional Rimmer, who finished runner-up in the 2006 event by two strokes, made four birdies - at the third, 12th, 14th and 17th.
But his captain Andrews, playing in this tournament for the second successive year, had an important input by picking up shots at the fifth, eighth and ninth.
"It was a real good steady one that. Neil helped more than a bit. He played very well today. He used his shots well and had a couple of birdies," said the 41-year-old.
"We will take that again tomorrow and see what happens."
Rimmer is making a habit of appearing in Grand Finals and he said you could not help but enjoy the event, even if it was not on the Riffa Club course where he has performed so well in the past because of a massive redevelopment.
"I just love it. You get treated fantastically, the weather is fantastic and the company is brilliant," he added. "It is a nice change playing on a different course. You don't get to play on the King's own private course very often."
Six-handicapper Andrews' highlight of the day was holing a 40-foot putt at the 351-yard eighth for birdie.
"I am never happy with the way I play but it was great fun. It is always a pleasure to play who people who hit the ball properly and it tends to inspire you to hit a decent shot occasionally," said the 58-year-old, who has benefited from his club having a two-year office for captaincy.
"I holed a very long putt from the front of the eighth green which went up the hill, hit the back of the cup and went in the hole. That helps to get things going and I managed to make three at the ninth."
Royal Mid Surrey professional Pagett was also satisfied with his day's work despite dropping his only shot at the fourth.
"Six under is well in contention, just two behind," said the 34-year-old who, after just two birdies on his front nine, had four coming home, including three over the last four holes.
"We are nicely tucked in there really. On the practice day seven under led so that was a good sighter as to what might happen today. The putter got a bit hot towards the end of the round. It was a really good finish.
"We were one under and I managed to make a birdie on nine and that sort of kick-started us; it gave us some momentum because we didn't really have any. I managed to birdie 10 as well to get us going."
Amateur partner Brooks got off to the perfect start with a nett birdie at the first but could not pick up any more strokes over the next 17 holes.
We did start birdie-birdie because Matthew birdied the second but it all went a bit flat for a few holes and then Matthew kicked in on the ninth and carried it on on the back nine. He played very well and I will try to help him a bit more tomorrow."
In fourth place on five under are Naunton Downs pair Nick Ellis and Roger Downes, with the Riffa Club's Mike Braidwood and Phil Dunford and Dubai's Arabian Ranches pair Elliott Gray and Graham Alban together a shot back.
On two under are John Oates and John Nolan, from Hallowes in Derbyshire, and Athenry duo Raymond Ryan and Pat Coen.
Defending champion David Wilton, with captain Vico Battaglia, shot a level-par 64 to be last after the first day.
Scores from Rd1