Angel Hidalgo made the most out of windy conditions to take the lead of the acconia Open de Espana on Thursday, with three-time champion Jon Rahm three shots back despite being a late arrival to the tournament following the birth of his third child.
Hidalgo finished with consecutive bogeys but shot a 30 in the front nine with four birdies and an eagle at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid to finish on six-under.
The 26-year-old Spaniard had six birdies in total and was two shots ahead of Sepp Straka, Julien Guerrier and Sam Bairstow.
"I played really, really good today. It's a long time since I stroked the putts as well as today," Hidalgo said. "Unlucky the last few shots, two bad swings with the irons, but pretty happy and looking forward the next three days."
Rahm was in a tie for fifth having only arrived in the Spanish capital on Wednesday after the birth of his first daughter.
He won the LIV individual title and was back in Europe to try to reach the minimum of four European tour starts required to be considered for the Ryder Cup next year.
The home favourite is being allowed to play after appealing the European tour sanctions against him for playing the LIV circuit.
Strong winds made it tough on players all day long at the Club de Campo.
"It's hard," Rahm said. "There's quite a bit of elevation change and in a few of the holes here, so a lot of times the wind funnels through the hole. Whatever you feel on the hole is different to what it might be doing above, so you have to put that into account and think about what type of ball flight you're going to try to hit."
Tyrrell Hatton, who defected to LIV and was going through the same appeal process as Rahm, shot a three-over 74 after five bogeys and two birdies on his first nine holes, while another LIV player, Patrick Reed, was in a tie for 28th after a par round of 71.
Tommy Fleetwood (69) made three birdies on his last six holes and was in a tie for eighth.
Shane Lowry, making his return to the Spanish Open after more than a decade, failed to ignite after a four-over 75.
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