Designed to showcase the outstanding playing ability of PGA Professionals, the 36-hole event – run in partnership with Acushnet and Club Car – saw twenty-one players go under par in stunning conditions on Melbourne’s Sandbelt.

A third career hole-in-one for Cripps, his 48-degree wedge landed past the hole and spun back into the cup, the New-South Welshman not sure of the final result until he made his way onto the green.

“I knew I hit it well, but I just kind of saw it disappear,” he said. “To be quite honest I thought it had spun off into the front bunker or the gulley short of the green.”

Energised by the hole-in-one, it kickstarted a run up the leader board for Cripps, who would finish the day with seven birdies and four bogeys to finish with 67.

“The first few holes I was just missing it in the wrong spots, which you really can’t afford to do around here – not with how quick and firm the greens are.

“I worked out pretty quickly that I just needed to keep the ball below the hole, you combine that with hitting fairways then there is certainly a chance to make a good score.”

Having found his groove, Cripps birdied seven of his last nine holes, including holing a nerveless twenty-footer on the last to claim the lead outright.

Due reward for effort, Cripps feels that his performance today is a reflection of the work he has put in recently – and the people with whom he surrounds himself.

“I’ve been spending a lot of time with Kelsey Bennett and Deyen Lawson,” said Cripps. “Working on my wedge game, distance control and just learning from them.

“You spend time around good people and it’s funny what can happen.”

For Flitcroft, there was no doubt that his 54-degree wedge was destined for the cup on the sixth.

“One of the boys actually called it mid-flight,” he laughed. “It’s my first one in thirteen years and first as a professional, so I’m very happy that it came today.”

It was the continuation of momentum for Flitcroft, who made an eagle on the sixteenth and a birdie on the eighteenth, after starting with bogeys on fourteen and fifteen in the afternoon field shotgun start.

“Those two (sixteen and eighteen) kind of got me moving, so it was great to add the hole-in-one there as well to keep it tracking in the right direction.”

Steady thereafter, Flitcroft also capitalised on the par-five ninth hole with another birdie, to finish the day at three-under, in a three-way tie for fourth. An impressive effort for his first time around the course, he is confident he knows what it will take to get the job done tomorrow.

“It’s all about where you leave it out there,” Flitcroft explained. “As soon as you’re above the hole you’re in trouble, but if you leave it in the right spots, then you can definitely post a good score.”

2018 Champion, Scott Laycock showed his class once again in pristine Melbourne conditions, firing an impressive four-under 68 to sit in a tie for second place.

Despite starting with two early bogeys, Laycock enjoyed a remarkable run through the middle of his round, playing a seven-hole stretch in six-under to make his way up the leader board.

“It was a bit of a funny start – it took me a while to get the speed of the greens,” said Laycock, who has prepared for the event by playing with the members at Royal Hobart.

“Then through that middle patch I didn’t miss many opportunities, so that was nice.”

Joining Laycock in second place is Queenslander Brenton Fowler, whose four-under round was highlighted by two eagles at the fifth and the ninth as he made his way around the front nine in just 31.

Fellow Queenslander TJ King also shone in the morning group, firing a three-under 69, to back up his impressive second-placed finish at the Links Hope Island earlier this year.

The final round nicely poised for tomorrow, the double shot-gun start will allow for the leaders to tee it up at 12:40pm, fighting for $50,000 in prizemoney and one of two exemptions into the 2022 Fortinet Australian PGA Championship.  

Follow the event scores and updates HERE