Playing his first PGA TOUR event of 2023, Davis opened with a round of four-under 66 to sit in a share of ninth and just two strokes back of co-leaders Jordan Spieth (64) and Chris Kirk (64).

Starting the tournament from the 10th tee, the cornerstone of Davis’s opening round were eagles to close out each nine. He holed a 35-footer for eagle at the par-5 18th and then hit a stunning shot inside six feet from 198 yards at nine to improve his score by two shots on his final hole of the day.

While the tropical setting may differ markedly from that found on Melbourne’s famous collection of golf courses, Davis said the way he played across the four Sandbelt courses used for the Invitational and during the Australian Open at Victoria and Kingston Heath transferred well to the Seth Raynor design at Waialae.

“This isn’t a golf course that you really want to full-on attack. You kind of just need to place your ball around,” explained Davis, currently the No.73-ranked player in the Official World Golf Rankings.

“Actually, very similar to the way I played the Sandbelt-style golf in Melbourne.

“You’ve got to be really strategic instead of overpowering.

“There are shots around here where you can take it on, like on 18 trying get over the corner and get a bit of an advantage distance-wise by doing that.

“Most of golf course is very strategic, and so you got to keep plotting it around and building your score that way.”

Playing on a limited category, Aaron Baddeley continued the good form he displayed at the back-end of 2022 with a three-under 67 while after going 15 holes birdie-free, Adam Scott finished off with three straight to play his way back into the tournament at one-under 69. The only other Aussie in the field, Harrison Endycott, struggled to an opening 77.

As play gets underway in the third round of sectional play at Asian Tour Qualifying School, 24 Aussies are endeavouring to play their way into Final Stage next week in Thailand.

Two-time Gippsland Super 6 champion Tom Power Horan is tied for second at Section E at Springfield Royal Country Club, three strokes back of Japan’s Shiso Go and one ahead of Kiwi amateur James Hydes.

Queensland’s Dylan Perry is tied for seventh at four-under, Matias Sanchez tied for ninth and three-under and Doug Klein and Ed Donoghue tied for 13th at two-under.

John Lyras and Blake Collyer are both at even par and tied for 26th while Darcy Brereton remains in contention just one stroke further back.

At Section D at Thana City Country Club, Peter Wilson is the best of the Aussies in a share of 23rd at two-under, one clear of Victorian Andre Lautee.