The Victorian making seven birdies on Thursday to move past Andrew Kelly, who led for much of the day. Kelly joined by Michel’s fellow afternoon players Cory Crawford and Charlie Robbins in equal second after 5-under 67s.

Starting on the 10^th tee, Michel got straight into his first start of the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season with back-to-back birdies at the par-4 and par-5 next before he dropped his lone shot of the day at the par-3 13^th.

Michel resuming his birdie making at the 16^th and 18^th to turn in 3-under, before the 28-year-old birdied both front nine par-5s, as well as the par-4 fifth to sit atop the leaderboard.

The former amateur standout offering up a simple reason for his hot start.

“I just drove the ball really well. Just gave myself a lot of looks and seemed to roll in a few putts,” Michel said.

“I didn’t really find myself in much trouble, mainly on the fairway all day. That’s kind of the secret around here. You can give yourself some looks if you can do that.”

Finishing last season with a share of eighth at The National Tournament, Michel has kept his competitive edge sharp with events on the adidas Pro-Am Series and two Asian Development Tour starts.

The Shepparton product sharing 16^th in Vietnam last month ahead of a busy stretch leading into Christmas as the season gets underway in earnest.

“Pro-Ams are great to keep your game sharp and everything, but you want to be playing the bigger events and I think everyone gets excited for the five or six month stretch from October through to March,” Michel said.

“Play a lot of golf and you feel like you can gain a bit of momentum if you’re playing well.”

For Kelly his first round was a mix of experience and the continuation of recent form on the Pro-Am circuit and at the World Sand Greens Championship in Binalong, where he shared runner-up honours after Brett Rankin pipped him in a play-off.

“I think it’s the experience. I looked at the book a little bit today, but I know most of the holes, none of the pin placements I’m not really familiar with,” Kelly said.

“I know most of the venues and that helps a lot.”

Unlike Kelly and Crawford, who notched two recent Pro-Am wins on the mid-north coast of New South Wales as he continues his return from a back injury, Robbins arrived in the West with less awareness of where his game might be.

The former contestant on Ninja Warrior spending more time cutting holes than playing them at Moonah Links before teeing it up at the WA PGA, where he tied for fifth last year.

“I think coming to somewhere where you’ve got good memories, really helped I think relax me knowing that I can do it if I just sort of let the golf take care of itself,” Robbins said.

“I haven’t been playing a whole lot of competition golf just the last month cause I’ve been working on ground staff, just dropped it back to a couple of days there so I can play a few more just club comps just to get some 18 hole rounds under my belt.”

Six players sit one back of Kelly, Crawford and Robbins, with Elvis Smylie’s more aggressive mindset helping him to reach the 4-under mark after three eagles in his 68 as he approaches almost a year of working with coach Ritchie Smith.

“I’ve taken on a bit more of an aggressive attitude, especially towards the par-5s,” Smylie said.

“I feel like if I don’t at least be aggressive on those and go for the eagles, then I’m kind of losing shots.”

The first winner of the season, PNG Open champion Will Bruyeres, one of four players a further shot adrift at 3-under, while Ben Eccles opened his title defence with a 1-under 71.

The CKB WA PGA presented by TX Civil & Logistics is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.