Four players from the morning field have set the early pace at the TX Civil & Logistics WA PGA Championship being played at Kalgoorlie Golf Course.

Defending champion Stephen Dartnall, Queenslander Taylor Macdonald, New South Welshman Leigh McKechnie and New Zealander Michael Long all fired 4-under 68 in the first round.

A solid but not spectacular round had MacDonald the first in the clubhouse on 68 and remarking that sometimes the highlights of the day are not the birdies but the saves.

“I hit a few scrappy tee shots out there but I managed to get things back on track.

“I probably holed about four six foot putts for par and saved it from being a mess on a couple of holes.

“I stayed patient and made a few birdies coming home to make it a fairly good round.”

Also impressed by his par saves was Long, “I hit a couple of loose drives early on and made a couple of nice par saves on 13 and 14 which were really crucial after I short sided myself. The birdies weren’t really very special, but the par saves kept me going,” said Long.

“I find it a long course. I still hit it okay, but I need to stay patient, I’m not going to be able to overpower it.”

Playing alongside Long, Dartnall was happy to start his title defence with a solid round.

“Can we stop now?” joked Dartnall.

“I played solid today, hit a lot of greens. I missed a few putts but I had four birdies and no bogeys. It was pretty boring but it was a good way to play it.

“I tried to take advantage of the conditions. It’s not going to like this all week, it is going to get windy on the weekend which will change the course a lot over the week.”

In his third trip to Kalgoorlie, McKechnie was very pleased with the greens, his putter helping him to the top of the leaderboard.

“The course is in fantastic condition. The greens are rolling really nicely; they are quick,” said McKechnie.

“I had a couple of nice putts from 15 feet that rolled straight in the middle; they never looked like they would miss.”

Sitting one shot off the lead is another group of four players including; Tim Hart (QLD), Matt Stieger (NSW), Campbell Rawson (NZ) and Christopher Akers (NSW).

The afternoon field is now on course.