Ireland's Eamonn Darcy made a solid start to his career debut on the European Seniors Tour when he carded a three-under-par 69 to share ninth place after the first round of the Travis Perkins Senior Masters.
The former Ryder Cup star goes into the second round three shots behind Maurice Bembridge, Denis Durnian and Ray Carrasco who all carded rounds of six-under-par 66 on a day when their golf was almost as hot as the weather at Wentworth.
Japan's Seiji Ebihara ran up a disastrous triple six on the 165-yard 17th hole but still claimed fourth place with a 67 and Antonio Garrido, David Good, John Grace, Ian Mosey and Alan Tapie were all tied with Darcy on 68.
Darcy started his first round in a Seniors Tour event with a bogey five on the 459-yard par four opening hole but that was the only shot he dropped all day.
He got back to par when he two-putted for a birdie on the 478-yard par five third before adding further birdies on the 10th, 14th and 15th.
"I would have to describe that as a bit of a struggle," said the Irishman, who won four times on the European Tour and accumulated almost £2million in official prize money.
"I have only played one competitive round in the last six weeks so I was a bit rusty when I started but it got a little bit better towards the end.
"I couldn't believe how many people were out there watching," Darcy added. "The atmosphere was great and without any gallery ropes it was a bit like the European Tour 25 years ago."
Further down the leaderboard, former Open and US Open champion, Tony Jacklin, spent most of his round battling with his putter but still recorded a two-under-par 70.
Bob Charles and Bernard Gallacher both posted level par rounds of 72 but Ireland's Christy O'Connor Jnr could only manage a disappointing two-over-par 74.
Leading first round scores in the Travis Perkins Senior Masters at Wentworth Club, England
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in bold):
66R Carrasco (USA), M Bembridge, D Durnian
67S Ebihara (Jpn)
68A Tapie (USA), J Grace (USA), I Mosey, D Good (Aus)
69D Jones, J Irwin (Can), J Bruner (USA),
E Darcy, M Gregson, A Garrido (Spa)
70G Encina (Chi), K MacDonald,
D O'Sullivan, I Stanley (Aus), T Jacklin, D Taki (Jpn), J Chillas, J Rhodes, R Campagnoli (Ita)
71M Miller
72J McDermott, G Wintz (USA), R Metherell (Aus), B Vivian (Nzl), B Gallacher, B Charles (Nzl), S Stull (USA), B Lendzion (USA), A Croce (Ita), R Weir
73D Creamer, N Job, J McTear, C Defoy, S Owen (Nzl), N Coles, D Huish
74P Diniz (Bra), P Townsend,
C O'Connor Jnr, B Brask (USA), B Jones
75N Wood, J Horton (USA), J Van Wagenen (USA), J Morgan, H Woodrome (USA), J Fourie (Rsa)
76T Gale (Aus), N Ratcliffe (Aus), B Shearer (Aus), B Waites, B Verwey (Rsa), D Ojala (USA)
77
E Polland, D Cambridge (Jam), T Horton, T Price (USA), P Leonard
PA