The third leg of the Hidden Valley Whitsundays North Queensland Series, the Sarina Golf Club layout has been inundated by rain in recent weeks which forced five holes to be taken out of play.

It did little to slow Brazel, however, who had six birdies on the back nine alone in a round of nine-under 62 in the latest event of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series.

“I struck the ball decent all day, didn’t find much trouble, hold a putt when I needed to and hit a few close,” said Brazel, who is a partner in the Hidden Valley development just 15 minutes from Airlie Beach and major sponsor of the North Queensland Series.

While Brazel had full control of his own golf ball on Tuesday, the same could not be said for one of his amateur playing partners who was just centimetres from hitting Brazel flush in the face.

“Funny story that,” Brazel added. “My left-handed playing partner had two shanks in a row and one managed to brush the side of my head under the brim of my cap!”

Joost ter Veld and Will Bruyeres are Brazel’s nearest challengers after rounds of seven-under 64, Bruyeres playing the front nine in four-under par to put himself in contention.

“The course was in great condition and I look forward to coming back to Sarina next year,” said Bruyeres, who was bogey-free on day one.

“Hopefully they get some rain to keep it nice and lush, but plenty of time to dry out,” Bruyeres added.

Anthony Choat, Brett Rankin and Jay Mackenzie are all three shots off the lead following rounds of six-under 65 as Rankin moves to a four-shot lead in the Series with a four-round total of 22-under par, Doug Klein (18-under) and Tim Hart (15-under) rounding out the top three.

Round 2 of the CMR Recycling Sarina Pro-Am begins at 8am on Wednesday with Brazel and Bruyeres to tee off in the final group at 11.10am

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