The Spaniard got off to a fast start in the morning, and made the most of the calm conditions to shoot nine under with nine birdies in his first 11 holes.

"It felt simple. I know it's not and I know it's really hard to repeat. But it felt like everything was going nice and smooth today," the 27 year-old said.

He remains modest about his chances of winning the tournament and repeating his 2009 success at the Austrian Open, however.

"If you are leading after three rounds, you can think about winning, but leading after the first round you only have to think about how many times the first round leader ends up winning, which I don't think is a good percentage."

Lurking not too far below on the leaderboard is McIlroy, who finished at six under after a blistering back nine which included six birdies.

Teeing off in the afternoon, by the turn he was at level par but then sought the advice of his caddy J.P Fitzgerald to help him judge the greens.

"Sometimes you see a lot more of the putt from a side view, so it's good to get a second opinion, especially on greens like this where sometimes the grain isn't that obvious from behind the ball," he explained.

The 22 year-old is currently sharing fourth place with six others, including Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts, Denmark's Thomas Bjorn and world number 4 Martin Kaymer from Germany.

At seven under and tied for second are Germany's Marcel Siem and Scott Jamieson from Scotland.