ABU DHABI: Amazing American amateur Bryson DeChambeau astounded the first day galleries at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on Thursday, as he stormed to the top of the leaderboard with an eight-under 64 in his first regular Tour event.

DeChambeau finished the day just ahead of world No. 5 and Abu Dhabi regular Henrik Stenson, at seven under, and world No. 3 Rory McIlroy, at six under.

The 22-year old, ranked just 644th in the world, looked set for a tough day after starting par-par-bogey, but a string of seven birdies and one eagle saw him surge past his more illustrious competitors.

“I had no expectations coming into today,” said DeChambeau. “I just free wheeled it and pretty much hit every fairway and was able to make a couple of putts.” He went out of his way to thank Abu Dhabi Sports Council and HSBC for giving him his sponsor’s invite – and if he continues in the same form for the next three days, he will certainly have earned that invitation.

The biggest crowds of the day flocked to Abu Dhabi Golf Club’s National Course to see the early group of world No. 1 Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and world No. 6 Rickie Fowler, and they weren’t disappointed. Playing under beautiful blue skies and mid-twenties sunshine, the trio all came in under par, with Spieth on the Falcon Trophy leader board just two shots behind Rory, and Fowler another two back.

“It's very different when you're out here,” said Spieth, playing in the Championship for the first time. “The course plays different day-to-day any ways but it was just in such spectacular shape. It's a beautiful golf course and a great place to start the year. I'm okay with 4-under to start and I'm going to try and improve each round.”

Rory McIlroy, who was delighted with a strong start to his first tournament after a two month break, felt the grouping helped his form.

“It's great. Every year this tournament's able to assemble a great field, like the one that we have this week. And to play with Jordan and Rickie today, there's always a little extra bit of excitement and buzz around the group whenever you tee off,” he said.

Henrik Stenson, in the following group, would have shared the lead but for a bogey on the 9th, his last hole. An Abu Dhabi ever-present, playing in all 11 Championships, Stenson will be hoping to better his two second place finishes.

His playing partner, three-time Championship winner Martin Kaymer, shot a 69 and will be confident of being in contention for a share of the US $2.7 million prize purse over the next three days of the European Tour and Desert Swing opener.

Last year’s winner, Gary Stal, couldn’t keep pace with his Swedish and German playing partners, ending the day at one over.

With starting times of 12.05 and 12.15 on Friday, the star groups will be sure of packed galleries as Abu Dhabi enters the first day of its weekend.

The Championship, which continues until Sunday night, hit a milestone of its own Thursday, with Thomas Bjørn and Grégory Havret scoring holes in one on the 15th, to reach a total of 15 aces in the event’s history. The fact that five of those have come on the 15th hole in the past five rounds means tomorrow’s spectators know where to stand!

Bjørn’s hole-in-one, with a six iron from 179 yards, was the first of the 2016 Championship and followed a triple-bogey at the 13th. Four late birdies saw the Dane finish at four under alongside Spieth and David Howell.

Day one also saw high-paced action off-the-course with more than 200 Emirati school students engaged in an inspiring half-day clinic, as part of the recently launched Champions of Tomorrow programme. The sessions saw the juniors participate in Abu Dhabi Sports Council and HSBC sports activations, as well as golfing masterclasses with ladies golf legend Paula Creamer and the popular Trick Shot Boys.

American hotshot Rickie Fowler enjoyed a tour of the Championship Village, including a quick game of ‘shoot the hoop’ in the ADSC basketball activation, and sampling the BBQ menu of the newly launched ‘HSBC Beach Club’.