The trio finished on 5-under 67 to head a packed leaderboard which featured 15 players within two shots of the lead.

Like Murdoch, who won for the first time in almost two years in the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series despite finding the water twice early on, Florimo’s round came in the morning wave as he continued the form that achieved a debut victory at his home club, Pacific, on Monday.

HOW THE WINNERS’ SCORES UNFOLDED

McLeod, who hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation, looked to be in the box seat to take an outright win for the first time since his victory at Mt Coolum last July after going bogey-free through 16 holes. However, a bogey on his 17th hole, the par-4 eighth, dropped him back to 5-under.

The highlight of the former NSW Open champion’s day came on the first. An eagle on the 505m par-5, where he holed out from around three metres following a seven-iron approach, moved him to -3.

Murdoch’s morning round started with two early bogeys after he was forced to take penalty drops on both the par-4 14th and 16th holes, but he then collected seven birdies, including on his final two holes – 12 and 13.

Playing in the group ahead, Florimo was at -3 when he became to the par-5 12th where an eagle propelled him to the joint lead.

WHAT THE WINNERS SAID

McLeod: “I hit it good today which was nice – first time in, I don’t know, a long time. I’ve been doing some work with my coach for the last three weeks so it was nice to see that paying off.”

Murdoch: “It was a little bit of a rough start, the first swing of the day went straight in the water. Made bogey and then two holes later, another one went in the drink. I probably played three of the hardest holes first up and then gave myself plenty of chances after then.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN

67: Jack Murdoch (Vic), Will Florimo (Qld), Jake McLeod (Qld)

68: Matthew Millar (ACT), Edward Donoghue (Vic), James Mee (Qld), Gavin Fairfax (Qld), Andrew Kelly (Vic)

69: Connor McDade (Vic), Darcy Brereton (Vic), Cameron John (Vic), Aaron Townsend (NSW), Josh Armstrong (Qld); Dylan Gardner (Qld), Tim Hart (Qld)

NEXT UP

The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series has two events on Thursday. The Brisbane swing continues with the Breakas Beach Resort Vanuatu Virginia Pro-Am, while in Sydney, the Northbridge Golf Club will stage its Pro-Am.