There was barely a breath of wind as the morning groups were greeted by ideal conditions, the golf course looking superb for the 53 SParms Legends Tour Professionals in the field.

Starting his round from the picturesque 120-metre par-3 14th, Backwell’s 9-iron hit the turf once before hopping into the cup for a hole-in-one.

Two-under heading to his second tee of the day, Backwell would ultimately sign for a round of two-under 70 and sits five shots back of Laycock heading into Friday’s second round.

Laycock is three-shots clear at the top of the leaderboard following a brilliant seven-under 65 that could have been even better.

He hit the flag from the fairway bunker on the long par-4 13th but missed the putt for birdie from 15 feet and hit the flag again with his chip shot for eagle at the par-5 16th before settling for a birdie, one of seven in a bogey-free round.

“I played solid all day and holed a couple of 15-footers which was nice because I’ve struggled on the Queensland greens of late,” Laycock said.

Those in the morning field capitalised on the ideal scoring conditions to dominate the top of the leaderboard, Lucien Tinkler currently Laycock’s nearest challenger after a round of four-under 68.

Brad Burns and Terry Price both posted three-under 69s in the morning, Michael Graham and David Van Raalte tied with Backwell at two-under.

Round 2 of the Gold Coast Senior PGA Championship tees off at 7.15am on Friday morning.