Indian Shiv Kapur almost didn’t tee it up this morning atthe ISPS HANDA Perth International but he’s sure glad he did.

Flying to Australia, via Singapore, Kapur hurt his shoulder lifting his golf bag off the carousel.

"I have a strain in my supraspinatus, which in layman’s terms, is the muscle that connects the neck to the shoulder," said Kapur. 

"It actually happened just lifting my golf bag off the carousel a couple of weeks ago."

"It’s funny how you go in the gym and you play golf and you do all these things and you don’t get injured, and the littlest thing happened when you travel.  We obviously load our golf bags up with a lot of stuff."

Not the perfect preparation to his campaign, Kapur spent time with the physio and chiropractor but still found his shoulder affecting the top of his swing.   

"I was really struggling on the driving range this morning with my shoulder, and the chiropractor here did a great job to get me fit to play, and popped a couple of pills and went out there," added Kapur.

"It got better as I warmed up, but the first few shots that I hit, I couldn’t really hold the club at the top of my backswing.  It seemed to get better."

Assured that he wouldn’t do any further damage, Kapur teed it up adopting a one shot at a time mentality.

"I’ve checked with the physios and the chiro, and they said it’s not really going to do me any damage if I play, but it’s not going to heal," continued Kapur. 

"As long as I’m in a position where I can swing a golf club, I’m going to keep playing."

 "And like I was saying, sometimes when you drop the expectations and you don’t really think about a golf swing, you’re just trying to get it around and play one shot at a time, the old cliché in golf, it seems to work pretty well."

It’s a decision that paid dividends as he went onto fire a bogey free 6-under 66 to be tied for the lead with Frenchman Romain Wattel after the morning field on day one.

"To not have a blemish on the card is a big bonus.  I think that’s the key out here is to rely eliminate the mistakes," said Kapur. 

"The course does give you a lot of birdie opportunities, but you can be 50, 60 yards on the green and make, you know, double‑bogey even." 

"It’s one of those courses where you just have to be on the correct side of the hole most of the time, and I think I managed to plot my way around pretty well."

Making his first trip to Australia as a Professional, Wattel is happy to see the ISPS HANDA Perth International move into the front half of the European Tour schedule.

"I came here, I think eight years ago for the Australian Amateur in Adelaide, and I got a very good picture of Australia, so I thought that would be a good idea to come back," said Wattel.

"But all the time, the tournaments in Australia were not very good on my schedule, and this time, after Malaysia, it was perfect.  So I thought, that’s the one."

Feeling at home at Lake Karrinyup Country Club, Wattel enjoyed the speed of the greens despite the challenge they provided.

"The course it suit my eye because we have that kind of courses in France.  We don’t play many on Tour like it but we have some in France near Paris where I’m from," added Wattel.

"I really like that kind of greens with a lot of slope and the trees. This week the greens are very good, a lot of slope and they are fast, and I like it," added Wattle.

Sitting two shots back from the leading duo is West Aussie Brett Rumford, Irish rookie Cormac Sharvin and Victorian Anthony Houston.

The afternoon field are now on course.