Brett Rumford and Mark Foster hold a share of the lead after the opening round of the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth, where Louis Oosthuizen also made a bright start.
The pair posted matching 66s to hold a one-shot advantage at Lake Karrinyup, where the innovative format sees the top 24 players after 54 holes progress to a match play shoot-out on Sunday.
Oosthuizen, who won last year’s event when it was called the Perth International, posted a blemish-free 69 to sit in the group three strokes back.
Beginning on the back nine, Oosthuizen picked up a shot at the par-five 11th and added another at the 14th before closing his round with a birdie-three at the ninth.
Rumford birdied four of his opening six holes and posted a bogey-free second nine to set the early clubhouse target, which Foster matched after mixing seven birdies with a sole blemish.
“I’m pleasantly surprised,” Foster said. “You come all this way and you don’t know what to expect and, obviously, as the round went on it got better so I was really pleased.
“You just come down, you want to give yourself a chance, so I came down early because I’ve not been playing anything, so that was the best thing I probably could have done.”
Jason Scrivener is one of five Australians on five under, while Japan’s Hideto Tanihara is also part of the 10-strong group sitting one shot off the pace.
A hat-trick of birdies from Jordan Smith from the 11th saw the Englishman sign for a four-under 68, joining the tie for 13th including Finland’s Mikko Korhonen and Spanish duo Pep Angles and Carlos Pigem.
2014 champion Thorbjorn Olesen sits with the players five shots back, while top seed Alex Noren is facing a battle to make the cut following an opening-round 74.
Watch the ISPS Handa Super 6 Perth throughout the week live on Sky Sports 4 – your home of golf. Coverage begins on Friday from 5am.
