With the wind down and overnight rain softening the course at Warragul Country Club, some great scoring was had on day one.

A total of 18 players posted rounds of 66 or better in the first of three strokeplay rounds to determine the qualifiers for Sunday’s six-hole knockout matchplay tussles.

Yet to finish outside the top 20 so far on Tour in 2023/24, Becker leads three players at six-under – Chris Wood (Qld), Josh Greer (WA), and Andrew Martin (Vic).

Last season’s Order of Merit No.3 Martin and rookie pro Greer traded blows in the same afternoon group with Kiwi Michael Hendry whose 65 gave the trio an impressive tally of -17.

Becker had a string of three birdies coming into the short par-4 ninth (his 18th) and needed just one more to equal the course record at Warragul, held by Chris Wood who was in the group behind.

With a near-perfect pitch, Becker left himself with a three-metre putt to tie Wood’s 61 from 2021, but the attempt just slid by.

The former WA Open champion had no complaints after tapping in for a 62.

“It was a quick start, four (birdies) through four… that settled me for the rest of the day, where a lot of the things that can niggle and get annoying just don’t mind, don’t care,” Becker said.

Becker had no idea he had a putt to equal the course record.

“Nup didn’t know that, I wish I gave it a little bit more break. I think in the back of my head I knew I needed to give it a bit more and as soon as I saw it dying it was missing.

“There was very little wind, obviously it was quiet dewy this morning and wet on the ground so that made pitching and chipping around not easy.

“I actually took a few days off (after the Queensland PGA) … took this week a little bit easier and it’s seemed to have paid off.”

Wood was also unaware his course record was in danger as he worked on his own good start to the event.

“I didn’t realise he’d shot 8-under until I spoke to Lachie (Barker) afterwards, but yeah it’s a great round by him this morning,” he said.

“The big difference for me was I just holed a few more putts around the turn.

“I started off pretty well, I think I was three-under through four… I was looking for maybe one more to finish but pretty happy with that.”

Amazingly two hole-in-ones were recorded in round one, both coming at the 172m 15th hole. First was a perfectly struck five-iron from amateur Joseph Owen (65), before Michael Wright (70) joined in the party with six-iron not two hours later.

Photo: Becker on his way to an opening 62.

SCORES