Andrew Dodt
fired a sparkling 65 to open up a two-shot lead before the threat of lightning
saw play suspended on day one of the Australian PGA Championship.

In the
calmer morning conditions, Dodt recorded eight birdies and a single bogey to
sit ahead of New Zealander Ryan Fox and Americans Julian Suri and Harold Varner
III, with the latter still left with four holes to complete when the horn
sounded at 15.16 as play was ended for the day.

Round one
was set to restart at 05.30 on Friday, with the morning groups teeing off in
round two between 07.00 and 09.00 and the second wave going out between 11.45
and 13.45.

Beautiful
conditions had greeted the players as the 2017 Race to Dubai got under way,
with 2016 Road to Oman winner Jordan Smith hitting the opening tee-shot.

But the
expected high winds arrived in the afternoon and brought with them storms, with
half the field yet to complete their first rounds.

That was no
problem for Dodt, however, who was in the clubhouse at seven under having come
home in an excellent 31 after starting on the back nine.

The
two-time European Tour winner made just seven of 20 cuts last season but has
been working on his game in recent months and is glad to see that work bearing
some fruit.

"I
wanted to hit the ground running for the 2017 season, hole one, shot one and I
managed to do that today," he said. "I hit it really well, putted
really well. It was just a really solid run.

"I
just haven’t been playing the game as well as I should. I’ve been hitting it
good but not getting the results, so I’ve kind of had to learn how to play the
game again or just change some bad habits that I was doing.

"So,
I’m playing the game a lot better now as opposed to playing the swing
game."

I wanted to
hit the ground running for the 2017 season, hole one, shot one and I managed to
do that today – Andrew Dodt

This event
was won at level par last season and Dodt revealed he was looking for a ten under
par total for the week, something he was well on the way to surpassing.

"My
caddy and I said, probably maybe ten under at the start of the week, so it’s
nice to be seven under after round one," he added.

Home
favourite Dodt started on the tenth and turned in 34 with three birdies and a
bogey but really came to life on the front nine. He birdied the first, third
and fifth with a huge 45-foot left-to-righter to join a four-way tie for the
lead and then broke away with closing gains on the eighth and ninth.

Fox is
embarking on his maiden European Tour season after finishing fourth on last
season’s Challenge Tour and he turned in 33 with birdies on the third, fourth
and ninth. A short putt on the 15th brought another birdie and a further gain
on the 17th saw him set the target.

Suri
narrowly missed out on a card at the Qualifying School after finishing 32nd but
certainly looked at home on his European Tour debut. He turned in 35 but then
picked up four birdies in five holes from the tenth to jump into a share of
second.

Varner made
it into a play-off last season before falling to Nathan Holman and he once
again showed how much he likes the Gold Coast, making four birdies in a row
from the seventh before stiffing his approach to the 13th.

World
Number Seven Adam Scott has finished first and second in his last two
appearances at RACV Royal Pines Resort and he started with a four under par 68
to sit alongside fellow Australians Nick Cullen, Geoff Drakeford, and Todd
Sinnott, Thailand’s Natipong Srithong and Englishman Paul Waring.

Home
players Rohan Blizard, Daniel Nisbet, Peter O’Malley and Michael Sim, Kiwi
Danny Lee and Swede Niclas Johansson were all at three under.

There was
not a long wait for the first hole-in-one of the season, as Jarrod Lyle holed
his tee-shot on the fifth with a seven iron from 179 yards to delight the home
crowd as the ball bounced just short of the green, took two more hops and
rolled into the cup.