Kristopher Mueck has fired a course record at Remuera Golf Club to lead the Holden NZ PGA Championship.

Playing in the second group out on course in the morning
field Mueck took advantage of the conditions to fire an 8-under 64.

"The last seven holes I managed to make a few birdies and
sneak an eagle in there so it was nice to finish in that fashion," said Mueck,
who is doubtful his course record will stand for long.   

"There is a long way to go and there are a lot of good
players here. So I think there is potential for it to be broken again, but it’s
another feather in the cap."

Limited preparation on the Auckland layout doesn’t seem to
have affected Mueck who has been in good form recently finishing T3 at the
Victorian PGA Championship.  

"I think not having played it was probably an advantage,"
added Mueck.

"You don’t really know where the danger is too much."

"With the narrow fairways it’s good to be able to narrow
your focus off the tee; the greens are quite big so it’s pretty tricky to get
near the pins sometimes."

At the end of the first round Mueck has a two shot lead over
New Zealander Josh Geary and hopes to maintain his lead over the next three
days.

"I was leading the Vic Open and finished 35^th or
something like that so obviously leading after round one doesn’t mean much,"
added Mueck who also lead the Oates Vic Open following the first round.  

"Obviously as you get in this position more you get more
experienced, hopefully I have learnt."   

Geary was happy with his opening round at the Holden NZ PGA
Championship and is riding a wave of confidence.

"I’ve been
playing well of late so it was no huge surprise but it was nice to have some
putts drop," said Geary.

"Obviously
to do it in tournaments is a lot harder but it was nice to get that under my
belt today."

The other highlight of the day belongs to NZ Open defending
champion Dimitrios Papadatos who aced the par-3 8^th at Remuera Golf
Club.

"I hit 7-iron and mid-flight I said ‘please be a tap in’ and
Pratty (Kieran Pratt) actually said ‘nah that’s going in," said Papadatos.

"They started clapping behind the green so I guessed it went
in."

"I was pretty happy with myself. The way I was playing
today, I didn’t really expect that."

Having struggled in the first round Papadatos said the hole-in-one
helped him finish the day at even par.

"I was putting quite poorly so I thought I might as well
knock that one in, thought it might be easier," joked Papadatos.

"I wasn’t exactly in a good mind frame; I made quite a lot
of bogeys prior to that so I was just happy to have made good connection with
the way I was playing."

With rounds of 5-under 67, Nick Gillespie (NZ), Mark Brown
(NZ), Jordan Zunic (NSW), Neven Basic (NSW) and Peter Fowler (NSW) complete the
top-5 on the leaderboard.

For all round 1 scores please click here.

For all round 2 tee times please click here.