Ash, England (My Sportsbook) - Anders Hansen eagled his 17th hole Thursday to polish off a seven-under 65 and move in front after the first round of the European Open.

Peter Hanson, who aced his way into the U.S. Open at a qualifier on Monday, posted a six-under 66 to share second place with Thomas Aiken, Jyoti Randhawa and Sam Little at the Heritage Course at London Golf Club.

"I think today's score had a little bit to do with Monday," admitted Hanson. "I've been struggling a bit with my long game and that gave me a huge confidence boost. It was a fantastic way to come into this, with people patting me on the back and saying 'Well done'."

World No. 4 Sergio Garcia returned to play his first European Tour event outside the World Golf Championships and Masters since the winter with a three-under 69 on Thursday.

He is tied for 25th place, with, among others, Rory McIlroy.

The talented pair is four off the lead of the three-time European Tour winner, whose last victory came at this season's Joburg Open.

Hansen began on the 10th tee Thursday and flew out of the gate. He birdied the 10th and 12th holes to get out to two-under par, but it wasn't until later on his opening nine that he vaulted up the leaderboard.

He birdied the par-five 15th and the par-three 17th to make the turn at minus- four.

Hansen parred his first five holes on his second nine, but a birdie at the sixth got him one off the lead at that point.

After a long drive at eight, Hansen hit a three-wood to the edge of the green at the 608-yard hole. His eagle chip fell into the hole and that gave him the outright lead.

"It was actually quite a tricky chip there," said Hansen. "The pin was short left so we were not sure whether we could get enough check on the ball to stop it, but we found a spot where I could land it and then hopefully it's going to work out.

"It's just one of those things where you are not quite 100 percent sure whether it's going to work out or not but I hit it beautifully - had it not gone in, I think it was going to be pretty close anyway, but it worked out beautiful."

Hansen parred his last for the first-round lead to himself.

"It was great to shoot a seven-under round," said Hansen. "It was very nice. Seven-under is always special. It beats three- or four-under. I'm really happy."

Christian Cevaer, Shiv Kapur, Simon Khan, Peter Lawrie, Michael Lorenzo-Vera, Jean-Francois Lucquin, Marcel Siem, Jeev Milkha Singh and Alessandro Tadini share sixth place at five-under 67.

European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood headline a group tied for 27th at minus-two. John Daly is one back after a first-round, one- under 71.

Masters champion Angel Cabrera managed an even-par 72, which was one better than defending champion Ross Fisher, who finished in second place last week at the BMW PGA Championship.

Players Champion Henrik Stenson struggled to a four-over 76 and is tied for 134th place.