Austria's Christine Wolf and England's Sam Horsfield fittingly shared the lead after a day of low scoring in the inaugural Scandinavian Mixed in Gothenburg.
Hosted by Annika Sorenstam and Henrik Stenson, the £860,000 event is a first on the European Tour as it features 78 men and 78 women competing on the same course for one prize fund and one trophy.
Wolf fired an eagle and six birdies in a flawless 64 to set the clubhouse target of eight under par which was matched minutes later by Horsfield, who carded nine birdies and a solitary bogey at Vallda Golf and Country Club.
Eagle – Birdie Christine Wolf leads by one with a hole to play 👏#ScandinavianMixed pic.twitter.com/QimRVEhMQQ — The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) June 10, 2021
"We've had a few mixed events at home and it's fun," said Wolf, who won her first title on the Ladies European Tour in India in 2019.
"At home there's a lot of guys I play against because there's not many girls around, so I just really like competing against the guys."
Horsfield also enjoyed the format and was impressed by playing partner Alice Hewson, who returned a 68.
"It was definitely different but I really enjoyed it," said Horsfield, who made his first cut in a major in the US PGA Championship last month.
"She's really good. I think she made four birdies in a row on the back nine.
Shooting 64 is as easy as that according to @hr59sam 😊#ScandinavianMixed pic.twitter.com/MYnP3ZqVcf — The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) June 10, 2021
"I didn't really know what to expect to be completely honest with you, but she played really well and I had a good time."
Wolf and Horsfield ended the day a shot ahead of Finland's Kalle Samooja, the English pair of Steven Brown and Ashley Chesters and Spain's Pep Angles, who made the most of his late call-up into the event.
"I was sixth reserve on Tuesday and I had actually pre-planned with friends to go away, but I had to cancel everything because all of a sudden on Tuesday I went from sixth to fifth, fourth, third and I got in, so I decided to play," Angles said.
"I got in yesterday (Wednesday) at one in the morning. I had a little bit of rest, not much, but I felt fine this morning hitting some balls and I'm happy. I made a couple of mistakes at the beginning as I was a little bit slow, but then I caught up and I'm quite pleased."
A birdie for @ANNIKA59 on 18... We shouldn't be surprised about that.#ScandinavianMixed pic.twitter.com/lEtoWOA5UQ — The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) June 10, 2021
Sorenstam was initially announced as a non-playing host but, 13 years after retiring, the 10-time major champion returned to professional golf earlier this year and birdied the last for a 73 in her first appearance on home soil since 2008.
Playing partner Stenson, who has failed to record a single top-10 finish since winning the Hero World Challenge in December 2019, carded four birdies and two bogeys in a round of 70.
"I think we would have done a good hybrid today, if you played tee to green and I took care of the putting," the former Open champion told Sorenstam during a joint post-round interview.
"We would have had a lot better score than we had individually. I've got some work to do, no question. The quest continues."
