The winner in Mackay two years ago, who says he has always felt comfortable on the North Queensland layout, has a two-shot lead over rookie professional Connor McDade (Vic) with last season’s adidas Pro-Am Series national Order of Merit leader Andrew Campbell (NSW) a further shot back.

Starting his round on the 10^th hole and feeling “a bit dusty” after some State of Origin beers last night, Rankin turned in 4-under 32 and then collected six birdies on a front nine of just 29 strokes.

He birdied each of the par-5s and had a couple of good par saves to keep his momentum going.

“It was a little bit unexpected,” Rankin said.

“I kind of got hot on the front nine and hit a lot of quality shots.

“I was bogey-free which is always one of my goals even when I’m playing with my mates back home. The No.1 goal is to go bogey-free and I take a lot of pride in that.”

The field of 62 players produced 37 under-par rounds on day one, including a 69 for defending champion Sam Brazel (NSW), while Victorian Ben Henkel (71) provided the shot of the day, holing out for an albatross on the 448m par-5 ninth.

Play in the second round of the 54-hole event starts at 6.30am.

Leaderboard

61: Brett Rankin (Qld)

63: Connor McDade (Vic)

64: Andrew Campbell (NSW)

65: Caleb Bovalina (Vic), Jay Mackenzie (NSW)

66: Jye Pickin (NSW)