A blemish free 8-under 63 early today at Victoria was good enough to secure a one-shot day one lead over Japanese amateur Rintaro Nakano and American Ryggs Johnston, who were both at Kingston Heath for round one.

There are four players tied fourth at 6-under, all of whom played at Victoria on day one. The 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith and last season’s Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner Kazuma Kobori are joined by Finland’s Oliver Lindell and American Jordan Gumberg, who had the low afternoon round.

Despite grabbing the lead, Herbert, a Victorian who played much of his teenage golf on the Sandbelt, still felt like he could have got more out of his day.

“I felt like there was a lot of shots left out there, I feel like that with every round of golf, to be fair,” Herbert said with a smile.

“I 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.

“Look, if that’s the worst round of the week, I’d be pretty happy.”

Starting on Victoria’s 10th hole, in the shadow of the Peter Thomson statue, Herbert opened his account with three pars but was quickly able to take advantage of his length with birdies at 13, and the famous short par-4 15th.

Back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th, both par-5s, had the NSW Open champion turn in 4-under, keeping up with Smith ahead of him who was making birdies for fun around the turn.

Herbert kept the foot on the pedal on his second nine, making yet another birdie on the short first, before the scoring finally paused.

Not for long though, with a further birdie at six, before a stunning eagle at the par-5 ninth put an exclamation mark on a near-perfect opening day.

“Slightly pulled my tee shot there, just down the left. Kind of got a little lucky it didn’t bounce and get into that thicker stuff,” Herbert said of his finishing hole.

“To put it up there pretty close and then to roll it in for the eagle, just put a nice finish on the end of that round.”

Having held him off at Murray Downs two weeks ago, Herbert knows that Smith will be the one to watch out for in the chasing pack.

“He will be the guy to beat this week I’d imagine,” Herbert said. “He’s been in some great form, he’s obviously finished, I think third, second, second in the last three events.

“I’ll be shocked if he’s not pushing me pretty hard on the weekend or I’m pushing him pretty hard on the weekend to win the Stonehaven Cup.”

Smith is keen to get one back on his Ripper GC teammate after the NSW Open, but says it’s going to be no easy feat, and isn’t counting out another Victorian either.

“I know he (Herbert) is playing really good golf and there’s a ton of other guys as well,” said Smith

“Leish is playing really good. His caddie Matty was saying how good he’s hitting it, so it’s going to be a good weekend.”

Leishman started with a 3-under 68 at Victoria. Meanwhile American Harry Higgs is well in touch after a 5-under 66, with the PGA TOUR player happy to find the consistency that was lacking in Brisbane.

A surprise bolter on day one is the 21-year-old Japanese amateur Nakano, who won the 2023 Japanese Amateur Championship and has played one US PGA TOUR event.

He was at -8 before bogeying the par-4 final hole at Kingston Heath.

Last week’s BMW Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie opened his Open account with a 1-under 70, after fighting back from being 3-over early.