Young North harbour golfer Simon Brownlee set a St Clair course record eight-under par 63 to lead the way on the opening round of the South Island Amateur Championship in Dunedin.
Brownlee made six birdies and an eagle in his 63 for a three shot lead over New Zealand representative Andrew Stewart (Omokoroa) and North Island Under-19 champion Vaughan McCall (Gore).
While the previous course record was 62, there have been significant changes to the St Clair course in recent years, with Brownlee's 63 now the new course record.
There was also some hot scoring in the women's championship with New Zealand strokeplay champion Zoe Brake sharing the lead with Northland's Caroline Bon and Nelson's Lisa Wright on four-under par 70.
The players took advantage of idyllic conditions today, although Brownlee found plenty of favour on the greens.
"Putting was the key today. I hit quite a few greens today and I holed a lot of putts and that got the score going. I didn't make any bogeys and that helps," Brownlee said.
"I made a couple of 30-footers early in the round and I had a chip-in as well. After that I hit it quite close for the other birdies.
"My chip-in on the 10th helped. I hit it beyond the pin and it rolled back. I didn't know it had gone in. I thought it was close but when I got up there it was a pleasant surprise to see it in the hole."
"I wasn't playing that well so I have put in a lot of hard work over the last month. Hopefully this is a sign that it is starting to pay off."
Stewart was in excellent form also. Starting off the 10th he turned at one-under but made four birdies in his second nine.
McCall also started off the 10th hole but made his move early with five birdies in his opening nine holes with one dropped shot, before picking up two more birdies coming home.
Canterbury student Keeland Kilpatrick (Russley) and Wellington's Tom Brockelsby (Royal Wellington) share fourth place on four-under 67.
Some of the favoured men will have plenty of work to do to make the cut tomorrow with defending champion Peter Spearman-Burn firing a seven-over 78 and fellow New Zealand representative Ben Campbell a five-over 76.
Brake (Whakatane) found herself one-over after 11 holes but zoomed home with an eagle and three birdies in her final seven holes.
"Actually I struggled right through the day and it felt like nothing was feeling right. But I hung in there and when I had opportunities to score, I made the most of them," Brake said.
"Even in my second nine I still did not hit the ball well off the tee and was unsure where it was going. But I hit some second shots close and I made an eagle on the 12th which helped a lot.
"I obviously played well enough to shoot four-under today. If I can be a bit better off the tee, then it will be a matter of carrying on doing what I did today."
Wright showed more signs that she is returning to top form after a lengthy injury break with five birdies and one bogey in her four-under 70, while Bon, also off in the morning, missed six birdies with two dropped shots.
North Island champion Lydia Ko is in a share of ninth place on even par 74.
