Struggling for form so far on the 2023/24 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, Clarke found his putting touch to roll in seven birdies at the picturesque McLaren Vale layout, one shot better than fellow New South Wales pro Andrew Campbell and Victoria’s James Marchesani.

Campbell eagled his final hole, the par-5 ninth, where he hit his eight-iron approach to inside two metres, while Marchesani narrowly missed a mid-length birdie putt on the 18th that would have given him a share of the course record with Clarke and the former solo holder,  South Australian Tom Bond.

Fresh off a family holiday at Hamilton Island after picking up a minor ankle issue at the WA Open, three-time Tour winner Matt Griffin (Vic) is part of a three-way tie for fourth with Dillon Hart (Qld) and Austin Bautista (NSW) at 5-under.

Playing in their state’s first mixed gender professional tournament, Jak Carter and Jack Thompson are the leading South Australians at 4-under.

In the fourth year of his professional career, Clarke came into this week on the back of a missed cut at the WA PGA Championship at Kalgoorlie and a tie for 65th at the WA Open at Joondalup.

“That’s the best I’ve hit it for a while,” the 30-year-old, who is based at Lynwood in Sydney’s north-west, said.

“I’ve had 18 months of pretty average golf to be honest, but I’m slowly turning the corner which is nice.

“It’s a pleasant surprise that the putter is starting to co-operate.”

Campbell’s presence on the leaderboard isn’t so much of a surprise with the Coffs Harbour-based professional already recording two top-10s this season.

His goal is to turn this “awesome start” on a course that reminds him of where he grew up, Warringah Golf Club in Sydney, into his first Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia victory.

“I’ve been out here long enough. I know what I’ve got to do,” he said.

“My golf is getting better and better so ‘winning’ is the aim. I know I can win and I’m here to win.

“Having played well in pro-ams leading up to this has certainly given me a lot of confidence.”

Marchesani was another player carrying some good momentum to Willunga after tying for seventh at Kalgoorlie last week.

“The form has been trending in the right direction,” he said after his bogey-free round.

“I made a good run early on the front nine on Sunday (at the WA PGA) which I knew I had to to catch Benny (Eccles) and made a bogey which probably halted that push.

“The game’s felt nice the last few weeks so it was nice to get off to a good start today.”

The Willunga women’s course record of 72 was beaten by three players in the morning field – Emma Ash (NSW), Kathryn Norris (WA) and Grace Lennon (Vic) – who posted 1-under 69s.

They were then trumped in the afternoon wave by the 3-under 67s from Claire Shin (NSW) and Robyn Choi (Qld), who are in a share of 13th.

Fresh back from playing on the Epson Tour in the United States where she narrowly missed her LPGA Tour card, Choi took a conservative approach to her Willunga debut.

“Today overall was steady golf. I didn’t get myself into too much trouble. The course is pretty tight, so I tried to play conservative off the tee,” she said.

“The course is playing narrow but also playing short. If I hit my drives well then it was a good opportunity for me to approach with my wedge which always helps a lot.”

Challenger PGA Tour Order of Merit leader and hometown favourite Lachlan Barker birdied the last to end the day at 1-under, while the unlucky story of the day came from Victorian Brett Coletta who was -6 with two holes left only to double-bogey the par-5 17^th and then drop another shot at the last after his approach shot hit the pin and rebounded to the edge of the green.

The only place to see the final two rounds of Webex Players Series South Australia is on Fox Sports through either Foxtel or Kayo Sports.

Day one scores: https://pga.org.au/report/?tourn=auto&class=aus