Former England international Craig Kieswetter, whose promising cricket career was cut short at the age of 26 after a horrifying eye injury, took a massive step forward in his quest to becoming a professional golfer with a four-under 66 debut on the MENA Golf Tour on Monday.

Playing as an amateur in the inaugural Sahara Kuwait Championship, the 28-year-old fired five birdies in his last 10 holes to compensate for an earlier bogey.

Kieswetter’s effort saw him finish on top of the amateur’s leaderboard, and four behind another man with an inspirational story – England’s 25-year-old Joe Heraty, who shot a career-best round of eight-under par 62 despite grappling with the emotions of discovering last week that his father has brain tumor.

England’s Stuart Archibald and Dutchman Fernand Osther were tied for second at six-under par 64.

His voice choking with emotion, young Heraty said: “I was just thinking about my father all the time, but managed to keep the round going. I had everything under control. I drove the ball well and holed lots of good putts.”

The Leeds native started with two straight birdies and was out in six-under par 29 without any blemishes on his card. On the back nine, he made a bogey on the 11th, but followed it up with a hat-trick of birdies.

Kieswetter, who represented England in 46 ODIs and 25 T20s and was Man of the Match in their World T20 Cup final win over Australia, was one-over with a bogey on the sixth hole, but then made five birdies in his last 10 holes to lead the amateur division by one shot over Abu Dhabi-based Tiago Lobo.

Kieswetter, whose Twitter handle says ‘from professional cricket to professional golf’ was delighted with his start and in a direct message to Sport360, said: “Solid start – good foundation to build on!”

England’s Craig Hinton, winner of the Abu Dhabi Open two weeks ago, headed the chasing pack in a five-man group at five-under 65. The group included Lebanon’s Peter Badawi, Scotland’s Jack McDonald, Sweden’s Fredrik From and England’s Daniel Owen.

Zane Scotland, the most prolific winner on the MENA Golf Tour, returned a 67 to join Scotland’s Paul Doherty and his compatriot Lee Corfield in a tie for 13th.