Making his first appearance of 2023, Scrivener had two eagles, five birdies and two bogeys in his round of seven-under 65, one back of European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald (64).

Donald closed with four straight birdies at Yas Golf Links to pinch the lead on day one, Scrivener tied with Guido Migliozzi in a share of second with fellow Australian Min Woo Lee tied for 12th after a round of four-under 68.

Runner-up behind Cameron Smith at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship in November, Scrivener admitted to taking time to get into his first tournament round in more than a month before finding his groove again.

“It’s really tricky,” said Scrivener of gauging expectations after a break.

“I was talking to my caddie the first few holes, saying it feels weird the first few holes.

“It takes you a bit of time to work your way into the round. It’s tricky, but couldn’t ask for a better start.”

The 33-year-old had three birdies and a bogey in his opening four holes and then accelerated his progress up the leaderboard by holing an 11-foot putt for eagle on the par-5 seventh.

That acceleration hit warp speed when he holed a wedge from 85 metres for eagle at the par-4 10th and moved to seven-under through 11 holes with a birdie at the next.

“It was a really nice way to start the year,” he added.

“A little scrappy at the start, and then kind of fought my way through it and had a few good breaks.

“Played really nicely the second half of the round.”

Although not his first PGA TOUR event of the season it was a nice start too for Harrison Endycott at The American Express in California.

With the Avondale Amateur underway at his home club back in Sydney, Endycott also posted seven-under 65 in Round 1, tied for seventh and three shots off the lead held by American Davis Thompson who posted 10-under 62 at La Quinta.

Playing the designated host course, the Pete Dye Stadium Course, Endycott made the turn in two-under before making three straight birdies from the 10th and then adding two more at 15 and 16 to continue his impressive start to his rookie season.

Jason Day posted five-under 67 in his first round at the Nicklaus Tournament course while Aaron Baddeley (71) and Cam Davis (72) are back in the pack after playing the Stadium Course on day one.

At Final Stage of Asian Tour Qualifying School in Thailand, 15 Aussies have moved past the 36-hole cut to keep their hopes alive of a 2023 tour card.

The field of 234 players has been cut down to 156 for the next two rounds with the top 70 players and ties following 72 holes to fight it out for 35 tour cards in the fifth and final round.

Sydney’s John Lyras and Queensland PGA champion Aaron Wilkin are the best-placed of the Australian contingent, tied for third at eight-under par and five strokes off the lead held by former Chinese prodigy Wocheng Ye.

Lyras followed up his six-under 65 on day one with a two-under 69 on Thursday, Wilkin mirroring his countryman with rounds of 69-65.

Doug Klein (72-65) and Peter Wilson (69-68) are tied for 18th at five-under heading into Round 3, Jack Thompson (68-70) and Louis Dobbelaar (69-69) a shot further back in a tie for 32nd.

Other Aussies to survive the 36-hole cut were Hayden Hopewell (68-71), Dylan Perry (71-69), Deyen Lawson (68-72), Jack Murdoch (71-70), Connor McKinney (68-74), Dimitrios Papadatos (74-68), Kade McBride (72-71), Tom Power Horan (70-73) and Charlie Dann (71-73).

Three Kiwis also advanced to the third round led by Denzel Ieremia who is tied for seventh after rounds of 69-66. Nick Voke (66-73) and Kevin Chun (71-73) were the other two to progress.