Herbert had a mixed start during the first few holes, kicking the round off with a bogey on the par-four first but then bounced back over the next few holes with some birdies to finish the front-nine at one-under.

He showed fine form on the back, starting with a birdie on the par-five 10^th, followed by three consecutive pars, with another three birdies on the remaining five holes.

With a one-under on the front and four-under on the back, Herbert wrapped up the round at five-under in total and is T8 alongside fellow Australians Min Woo Lee and Wade Ormsby.

Veteran English golfer Lee Westwood, who carded an impressive nine-under bogey-free round which included two eagles and five birdies, is the man to catch come round two.

Herbert will tee up at 17:41pm (AEST) for the second round this afternoon alongside Robert Rock (ENG) and Scott Jamieson (SCO).

The European Tour event at the The Renaissance Club is part of the Rolex Series and comes with a massive $7,000,0000 USD prize fund in addition to 7000 Race to Dubai points up for grabs.

Herbert is currently seventh on the Race to Dubai rankings with 1008.9 points and with a win this week it would catapult him straight up the standings.

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