Young Malaysian talent Gavin Green overcame the blustery conditions to sign for an opening four-under-par 68 at the ongoing Fiji International on Thursday.

Starting from 10, Green fired one eagle and three birdies against a bogey to turn in 32 before reeling nine straight pars on his way home to take the morning round lead at the scenic Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course.

“It’s a good course but if the wind blows, it’s a beast,” said the 23-year-old Malaysian. “I hit a lot of one-irons off the tee today. I can get it to about 250 or 260 yards so I am able to knock it down especially in the wind.”

“I was very tempted to hit it as hard as I can on the 17 but I hit a soft one which went quite far down, given the downwind. I then hit a pitching wedge to about 15 feet and made that eagle putt. It was nice,” Green added.

Green, placed fourth on the current Order of Merit, credited his past experiences of playing in such windy conditions for a commendable round.

“I am not new to these windy conditions. I get a lot of these back in Mexico when I was still in college. I am glad my coach made us play in this kind of conditions then! Austin (Conelly) and I were feeding off each other too. When I made the eagle, he made the same.

“If the wind keeps blowing like this, I am not going to change my game plan at all. I will stick to the same game plan and focus on making as many pars and birdies as possible,” Green said.

One-time Asian Tour winner Richard T. Lee of Canada carded a 70 while National hero Vijay Singh and Scott Hend posted matching 71s in the A$1.5 million (approximately US$1.14 million) event, tri-sanctioned for the first time by the Asian Tour, ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia and European Tour.