But the Sydney professional is developing a love for the linsky Mornington Peninsula lay-outs, and he will sleep on the halfway lead at 11-under par after two superb rounds.

Hong, 26, shot a 5-under 66 today on the Legends course to go with his opening 66 on the Open course, and at 11-under he has opened up a lead of a shot from Queenslander Cory Crawford in the $250,000 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia event.

If he wins it would be his first on the tour and it would give him playing rights that he craves. As it stands, he is hanging out in Sydney and waiting for tour school to come around next year.Hong has been exceptional in what have been unusually benign conditions at Moonah, with light winds.

He played his first 34 holes of the tournament without a single bogey – a streak only broken when he dropped a shot at the par-4 17th today on the Legends.

He made a long birdie putt on the sixth, and chipped in for another on the seventh, and it was all a far cry from his early chapters as a touring pro, struggling on the PGA Tour Americas and the Canadian Tour.

“I feel like my game’s improved a lot since last year, but no one would really know because I haven’t had the opportunity to play and perform,” said Hong. “I’ve finally got an opportunity this week and I’m taking it.”

After six years of college golf in America, Hong turned pro and won a stage of tour school on the Canadian Tour, but he has lost all his playing rights, a situation that would be rectified by a win at Moonah this week. “It’s pretty much ‘win or go home’,” he said.

It has been a steep learning curve for Hong. “You’re travelling so much and just learning to be a pro. It’s still something I’m trying to get used to. I’ve got a couple of years of experience, and I’m just trying to learn as fast as I can. I’ll probably be back here for a year or so and then see if I can get back to America.”

Queenslander Crawford is the closest at 10-under after his 67 on the Legends course today. WA’s Brayden Becker, who holed out for an eagle from 112 metres on the par-4 eighth hole of the Legends, is outright third at 9-under, a shot ahead of a group that includes first-round leader Corey Lamb (71 today on the Open course).

Lamb was disappointed to tread water with the course playing “the easiest I’ve seen it”, but embellished his round by holing a 30-footer for birdie at the last. “It wasn’t a great day,” he said. “Got away with a birdie at the last to shoot 1-under.”

A double bogey 6 at the par-4 14th hole did not help, after his approach plugged in the front bunker and compounded the trouble with a three-putt.

The tournament favourite David Micheluzzi is at 3-under through two rounds after an even-par 71 on the Legends today.

The Victorian Amateur Challenge for teams is led at 20-under by Deyen Lawson and Phil Bannister.

PHOTO: Jason Hong on his way to a 66 on the Legends course today. Image: Daniel Pockett

Lamb, 23, went head-to-head with Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert at Murray Downs a few weeks ago, with Herbert coming out on top. He finished equal runner-up, assumed a certain cult hero status, and the experience has been emboldening for him.

“I’ve taken a lot out of it. It’s definitely helping me play how I’m playing,” he said today after nailing seven birdies in a bogey-free round, and sprinting home through the back nine in 30 in perfect conditions for round one on the Mornington Peninsula.

The Hunter Valley product leads by a shot from a cluster of players at 6-under – Queenslanders Dylan Gardner and Cory Crawford, Victorian Connor McDade and New South Welshman Jason Hong and Western Australian Josh Greer, who all played the tougher Open course.

Tournament favourite David Micheluzzi opened with a 3-under 69 on the Open course and is well placed moving to the Legends on Friday. Another of the marquee group, Jack Buchanan, struggled to a 76.

But it was Lamb’s day. “It was weird, I hit it really close on probably the first seven holes and only holed two of the putts,” he said. “I got a bit cranky there, but then everything started going in.”

Moonah Links is familiar to him having graduated from Q School here a couple of years ago, and he knows that all players need to capitalize when they get their run at the slightly easier Legends course. Exactly as he did today. “I hit the ball so good, on any course today, I think I would have played really well.”

A former NSW and Queensland Amateur champion and an Australian All Schools champion, he has largely struggled to make an impact as a pro until this year, with his good result at Murray Downs and a T2 at the Webex Players Series SA.

Prior to this week he was seventh on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit; effectively he is fifth because Marc Leishman and Lucas Herbert have not hit the required number of four tournaments played, and they are ahead of him. The top three at the end of the season in March will pick up DP World Tour playing rights, and it is on his radar.

“I haven’t played too good the first couple of seasons,” he said. “This year I’m finding out what works for me leading up. I’m looking at that (Order of Merit). That’s for sure.”

Lamb also leads the Victorian Amateur Challenge teams event with playing partner Andrew Colliver after they posted a net 58.

Micheluzzi was off the pace until he conjured a barnstorming finish, chipping in for birdie at 17 and then wedging up close for another birdie at 18. It is his 14^th tournament in the past 17 weeks, but he is hanging tough. “I should be more tired than I am but once it’s ‘clubs up’ I think I’m going to be done for a few weeks,” he said.

The player with the biggest regrets would have been WA’s Jordan Doull, whose opening even-par 71 on the Legends was remarkable. Doull was 9-under through 11 holes and in the mix for something sub-60. He then gave all those shots back in the last seven holes including a quadruple bogey at the par-4 15th hole.

PHOTO: Corey Lamb drives at 18 on his way to 64 at Moonah Links today. Image: Kirsty Wrice

It’s 12 months since he reeled everyone in on the final day at Moonah to secure the title, coming from seven shots behind.

It was not his first win – he had earlier secured the WA PGA, the NSW Open and the Webex event in Sydney in his groundbreaking 2022-23 season – but could not find a way to defend those titles because of his playing schedule.

This time he is back as the winner and on familiar ground, at courses (the Open and the Legends) that he has played dozens of times. Plus with the pro-am element to this week brought by the Victorian Amateur Challenge, it means that he will play in a team with two good friends.

At the end of a long and arduous year travelling around the world on the DP World Tour, it has a good vibe to it. “It’s just good seeing the boys again and it’s a more relaxed environment. Just go out, play some golf and enjoy the end of the year.”

Micheluzzi has taken good strides since he won here last year, playing 24 times on his first full-time crack at the DP World Tour, making €609,000 and pushing his world ranking to 228th. His passport is chock full and “almost done”, but he is not looking for an out; he is renowned as a grinder, happy to play five or six weeks in a row.

“It’s been good. I’m slowly coming to terms with it becoming normal. At the start, it was like ‘I don’t feel like I belong yet’, whereas after Munich (where he was runner-up in the BMW Open), that’s when it kicked in.”

That performance took him inside the top 70 on the tour, and ultimately he made it all the way to the Abu Dhabi tournament in November, which means that in 2025, he will be in all the bigger European events. This time last year, he was at home working with coach Marty Joyce on lowering his ball flight to fit the majority of the courses on the DP World Tour.

“I’ve gotten better,” he said. “The results maybe haven’t shown it. I haven’t won this year, but at the same time, I feel like the golf game has developed from playing all different countries. My ball flight’s better, everything’s better. Now it’s doing all the little things to try and win a tournament. That’s what I have to focus on.

“I needed to change some things with my game to suit where I’m playing. This week is how I like it, low-running shots, ‘linksy’. My ball flight’s got higher. I had to because everything’s softer over there. It may not be tailored for it this week, but I’m working on things for next year.”

Micheluzzi will have a break after this week, but not for long. He’s playing the Sandbelt Invitational before Christmas, he’s entering the New Zealand Open and The National tournament to end the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season in March.

At 28, it feels like 2025 could be a big year for him. “I’m just playing bigger events, that’s all. I feel like I’m the same person.

“I want to try and make Dubai (the DP World Tour championship, for the top 70 players). I want to be a little more consistent with everything. It was a good year, a good learning experience. I was very up and down but in the last eight weeks, I’ve been more consistent.”

Micheluzzi is one of the marquee players in the field this week alongside the likes of two-time winner Jack Buchanan, Jasper Stubbs who was tied-third at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open last week and Queenslander Anthony Quayle.

The final two rounds of the Victorian PGA Championship will be broadcast live on both Fox Sports and Kayo with coverage to run from 3pm-6pm Saturday and 1pm-6pm Sunday AEDT.