Ireland's Philip Walton began the European Tour's qualifying school final at Emporda with a three under 68 to finish six off the pace of Australian Brett Rumford.
Rumford sparkled with a nine under par 62, but it was only good enough for a one-stroke lead as Austrian Markus Brier holed-in-one en route to a 63.
Brier aced the 166-yard 14th, while Newcastle's Michael Archer had one on the 180-yard 11th.
Rumford, a winner on the Australasian tour as an amateur in 1999, finished 132nd on the European Order of Merit this season - 16 places too low to survive the school ordeal.
"This was a round I would like to have happened about eight months earlier," he said.
"Nobody really wants to be here, but I just tried to focus on getting off to a good start."
Gordon Sherry, who was tipped for great things after finishing fourth in the 1995 Scottish Open as an amateur, managed only a 72 on his latest attempt to win a tour card.
Now 28, Sherry missed out in 1996 and 1997 after bad last rounds and has been unable to fulfil his massive promise.
"There are still five rounds to go, so it is not disastrous," he said. It put him down near the rear of the field at the course, however, and of the 168 players competing, only 35 and ties earn cards next Wednesday night.