American Boo Weekley fired a six-under-par 66 to hold a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast on Thursday.
The three-time US PGA Tour winner topped the leaderboard following a rain-affected first day at Royal Pines, where half the field are yet to complete their opening rounds.
Weekley led a group of five players on four-under including defending champion and world number three Adam Scott.
The American's month-long stay in Australia has included equal 15th place finishes at the Australian Masters and Australian Open.
Weekley carded five birdies, a bogey and an eagle around the revamped Royal Pines course.
"I had 146 (yards) into the hole, was kind of in between clubs and I just figured I had a breeze a little bit into us ... took an eight-iron and choked it down a little bit," Weekley said of his eagle at the 17th hole.
"As soon as I got up in the air, got flying towards it then one hop and it went in the hole."
Scott also made eagle on Thursday at the par-five 15th and was happy to notch the first under-par first round of his Australian swing of tournaments.
He expects he will have to keep scoring low to defend his title.
Scott is joined at four-under by several players including youngster James Marchesani and Korean Jin Jeong, who was through 12 holes when play was called off as a storm rolled in.
Source: AFP