Shaun Norris and Renato Paratore are on top of the leaderboard after the opening round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA.
They shot matching scores of eight under par 64 to lead Brooks Koepka and Australia's Jason Scrivener by two shots going into Friday's second round.
World number one Koepka, who is playing for the first time since recovering from a knee injury, says he's feeling good heading into the weekend.
Paratore, who in 2015 became the first player in European Tour history to score a four on every hole at the Open de France, is looking for his second European Tour victory having won the Nordea Masters in 2017.
Norris, who carded an impressive nine birdies on day one, is seeking his first European Tour win after an impressive season on the Japan Tour, where he won and had four runner-up finishes.
Australia were dealt an early blow in their quest to reach the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup after the depleted former champions crashed to a 23-run defeat by Zimbabwe in Colombo on Friday.
Arsenal has wasted the chance to restore their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League table as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Brentford on Thursday, with Noni Madueke's second-half header cancelled out by Keane Lewis-Potter.
Defending champions India continued their march towards the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup with a 93-run win over Namibia in a group A contest at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday.
Brothers Justin and Anthony Mosca guided Twenty20 World Cup debutants Italy to their first win in the tournament, as their unbeaten half-centuries secured a dominant 10-wicket victory over Nepal in a Group C clash on Thursday.
The 2026 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships will usher in the start of a new era for one of the Middle East’s most iconic sporting events with plans revealed for an extensive two-phase redevelopment that will transform the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium and surrounding Aviation Club Tennis Complex.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has launched the 11.5: Edge of Life Ramadan campaign to rescue 5 million children around the world from hunger.
Teams from Dubai Police and Kuwait have successfully dismantled an international drug trafficking network and foiled an attempt to smuggle more than 14 million Captagon pills inside sacks of corn grains.
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has introduced a bus service between Dubai Mall and Hatta, with operations starting from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm daily.