The burly New South Welshman’s round of six-under 64 was the best of Round 1, giving Edge a slight advantage from Haydn Barron (65) and Blake Proverbs (65) ahead of Friday’s second round.

Missing the first four cuts of the 2022/2023 ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia season denied Edge a berth in both the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship and ISPS HANDA Australian Open.

Assistant Professional at Castle Hill Country Club in Sydney, Edge chose to play the $100,000 BMD/Bartons Wynnum Pro-Am rather than try to Monday qualify for the Australian Open but it was a stretch in a nine-hole pro-am at Eastwood Golf Club in Melbourne on Tuesday that garnered some hope.

After speaking on Monday night, Serhan gave his student a drill to work on, instilling a sense of confidence and excitement that saw him soar to the top of the leaderboard.

“I spoke with my coach the other day,” revealed Edge, who had six birdies and an eagle at the par-5 12th in his round of six-under.

“He sent me a text with a little drill to work on and it feels like my swing has been freed up quite a bit.

“I’ve been struggling. Just haven’t quite been on and it eats you up when you’re playing tournament golf.

“I’ve had a couple of weeks where I missed out on the big ones so that made me a bit annoyed and hungry.

“Spoke to Johnny and then came out on Wednesday, hit it nicely with the boys in a practice round and was looking forward to playing today.”

If Edge arrived at Warragul with a point to prove, Barron teed up on Thursday riding the high of his top-five finish at the Australian Open at Victoria Golf Club on Sunday.

The best performance of his professional career, Barron’s tie for fourth also yielded a spot at next year’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool and the confidence to bring his strong form into the next event.

“Obviously take a hell of a lot of confidence from last week and when you’re hot, just keep going rather than look for any other reason why you shouldn’t keep going,” explained Barron, whose round consisted of eight birdies, three bogeys and seven pars.

“I made some really nice clutch putts last week under a lot of pressure. A couple of times I had a four or five-footer today and just thought, This is nothing compared to last week.

“This is five weeks straight now of Tour events with a couple of pro-ams in between so I know where my game’s at, it’s just a matter of executing.”

After Sunday’s heat in Melbourne, players had to adjust to conditions that didn’t get up above 15 degrees on a course buffeted by consistent rain and winds that gusted up to 45km/h.

For Edge, it was a reminder of his junior days playing at Springwood Country Club at the foot of the Blue Mountains, closing out his round with a superb 7-iron to 12 feet to set up birdie at the 167m par-3 18th.

A bogey-free 66 saw Darcy Brereton join Chris Wood, Josh Armstrong and Jack Pountney at four-under with 13 players tied at three-under and just three strokes off the lead.

There will be a cut to the top 50 and ties following Friday’s second round and then the top 24 after the third round will advance to Sunday’s thrilling match play finale.

Click here for Round 1 leaderboard

Click here for Round 2 draw