Carter’s 9-under 62 on day one gives him a one-shot lead over three players, Connor McDade, Zachary Maxwell, and local Mandurah hope Jason Scrivener all tied second at 8-under.

Another player making memories on day one was West Australian Ryan Peake, with a perfect 8-iron leading to a hole-in-one on the 149-metre fifth on his way to a 7-under 64, sitting in solo fifth.

Singapore’s Ryan Ang and Matias Sanchez one shot further back in a tie for six, with defending champion Simon Hawkes, Mandurah member and 2021 winner Braden Becker and Josh Armstrong on 5-under.

Much of the scoring came from the morning groups today at Mandurah, and out early, Carter capitalised on the benign conditions.

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“I’d say the majority of the day I was just flagging anything from inside sort of 120 metres, I was hitting those to inches,” Carter said.

“It was just a nice solid day with shorter clubs, the wedges were good today.

“The course is mint, I absolutely love it, it’s pure.”

Starting birdie-eagle, Carter was out for the course record early, and further birdies at four and five continued the charge.

A dropped shot at seven looked like it may slow the South Australian down, however it was evidently quickly forgotten, Carter not recording another bogey for the day.  He stormed home with a 5-under 30 on his back-nine, including a near tap-in on the last.

Despite a strong rookie-season last year on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, Carter is yet to secure his first win, a milestone he is eager to tick-off.

“Absolutely starving,” he said of his hunger for that first win. “Just got to keep just rocking up and yeah, who knows what’ll happen.”

Hot on Carter’s tail is Scrivener, whose back fence borders the course and has returned home from the DP World Tour with a keenness to flex his muscles on the course he knows so well.

Playing in a West Australian all-star grouping alongside Curtis Luck and Haydn Barron, Scrivener had much of the Mandurah faithful following him and was pleased to see so many members out supporting.

“I wasn’t sure what we were going to get early on a Thursday, but it was nice to see a few of the members out there and a bit of family,” Scrivener said.

“I was a little nervous to start the day, obviously at my home course there’s a fair bit of pressure on me. Built into the round nicely though and yeah, happy with the day.

“Waking up this morning in my own bed was weird doing warmup in my gym at home and just little things like that. It’s just unusual when most of the year I’m away, but to be honest it was really cool.”

Playing a social round with another Mandurah local in Braden Becker a few months ago, Scrivener managed a 13-under 58 at Mandurah, and although some low scores have come in already this week, he doesn’t believe a round like that will be seen during the tournament.

“No,” he laughed. “That was a one-off and my best score around here by quite a few.”