Lucas Herbert saved his best until last as he fired a flawless 63 to lead by a single shot after the first round of the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.
Starting from the tenth tee at Victoria Golf Club on Thursday, home favourite Herbert turned in 32 courtesy of birdies on the 13th, 15th, 17th and 18th.
The 28-year-old made further gains on the first and sixth before finishing with a flourish, holing his eagle putt on the last to reach eight under par.
American Ryggs Johnston and Japanese amateur Rintaro Nakano were in a tie for second on seven under after each carding 65s at Kingston Heath Golf Club, the other host course this week.
Cameron Smith, Jordan Gumberg, Oliver Lindell and Kazuma Kobori sat another shot further back following their exploits at Victoria Golf Club.
Herbert began his round with three successive pars before opening his birdie account from tap-in range at the 13th following a stunning approach shot.
He almost pitched in for an eagle on the 15th but instead had to settle for a close-range birdie before reeling off a hat-trick of gains at the 17th, 18th and first.
And after yet more impressive ball striking set up another birdie at the sixth, Herbert closed his round with an eagle from around ten feet to storm to the summit.
He said: "I felt like there were a lot of shots left out there. I feel like that with every round of golf, to be fair, but didn't really think I holed that many putts.
"Just hit it quite nicely, got it into the right spots. Probably got a couple of lucky breaks here and there where shots that maybe weren't the best didn't get punished the way they could have.
"So look, if that's the worst round of the week, I'd be pretty happy, but I would suggest that's probably not going to be the worst round of the week.
"You've just got to take your luck when you get it. There's days where you can play really well and just nothing goes for you. So yeah, I'm going to be happy with that."
