Players will tell you they don’t see the scoreboards scattered throughout the course; a bout of selective blindness that enables them to stay in ‘the process’.

After the top 66 players qualified for the third round of the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth on Saturday the numbers game went up a notch.

The top three through 54 holes earn a prize money bonus.

The top eight avoid the indignity of being knocked out in the first round of the match play courtesy of a first-up bye.

The top 24 – whittled down from a playoff between 11 players for the final 10 spots – earn a place in the match play bracket drawn at random following Saturday’s play.

It’s a lot to keep track of as you manipulate your golf ball around Lake Karrinyup Country Club in a gusting south-westerly wind the locals referred to as ‘timid’, so most players don’t even try.

It was a good thing for Canadian Austin Connelly that he paid the scoreboards no mind because for the majority of his third round they were giving off false hope.

The all-Commonwealth group of Connelly, Englishman Tom Murray and Kiwi Gareth Paddison made the turn each at 5-under par having started the day at 3-under.

The fluid cut-line hovered around the 6-under mark all afternoon and when he made a fantastic up-and-down from the front of the 18th green the score on the board and online declared that Connelly was inside the number.

Only he wasn’t, and thankfully for all concerned, he at least knew it.

His tee shot at the downhill par-3 12th had travelled long and left, his chip reaching the fringe before he two-putted for bogey.

The scorer recorded a par; Connelly knew he had taken one shot more.

It wasn’t until he completed his round that the score was adjusted and in the stroke of a pencil ‘likely’ quickly became not so.

“It would surprise me if 5 (under) wasn’t in a playoff. Those last three holes are no cake-walk,” said Connelly, who only earned a start in the tournament following the late withdrawal of Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston. Alas, 5-under was one shot too many.

Murray also flirted with the cut-line throughout his back nine.

A birdie at 12 moved him from a tie for 22nd into a tie for 12th but a double-bogey 6 at the following hole saw him plummet to a tie for 30th.

A birdie at the driveable par-4 14th moved Murray up to a tie for 24th and another at the par-5 15th saw him join nine other players in a tie for 16th.

Pars at 16 and 17 followed and when he saved par from the back of the 18th green he looked to have secured safe passage into the match play.

“I didn’t really know what the number would be to get in the match play so the mindset to start the day was 3-under par because I knew it was going to get windy,” said Murray, who ultimately fell out of the 24 in a playoff with Wade Ormsby after the pair made matching bogeys the first trip down 18.

“It’s a good buzz around the place today. Obviously way more people around.

“You’re obviously try to get as low as you can to get in the top-8 to get through, top-24 get through, so there’s a few things going on.”

Paddison was the first of his group to reach 6-under thanks to a birdie from the bunker at 11 and when he added two more at 15 and 16 he finished the third round tied for fifth and a match play date almost two decades in the making.

“I’ve been pro 18 years now, so it’s been a long time,” Paddison said of his most recent match play experience.

“It’s going to be a completely different mindset really. It will be interesting to see what happens.”

It took a monster birdie putt at the 18th hole and a par in the playoff for Scotland’s Connor Syme to move into the match play section of the tournament, the 2016 Australian Amateur champion reflecting on a Saturday unlike any other in world golf.

“It was kind of up in the air there whether 5 or 6-under was going to make it,” said Syme.

“It was a good putt at 17 to stay at 5 and then coming up the last I knew I had to make that long putt.

“It was a weird situation because you’re thinking 4 might be good enough but then you push for the 3 and you can end up going in that bunker and making 5.

“I played the sensible shot and then it was a bonus to make the long one to finish.”

But there was one golfer who admitted to the cardinal sin.

Sitting pretty at 8-under after making birdie at the first, Scottish second-year professional Robert MacIntyre got swept up in the moment and it very nearly cost him, a 1-over 73 rescued by a birdie at the playoff hole.

“It’s a great way to make it through and now anyone can win it,” said MacIntyre, who has an impressive match play pedigree having won the 2015 Scottish Amateur and finished runner-up at the 2016 British Amateur.

“I think I monitored the scoreboard too much; I should have just played my game. There was a leaderboard at the back left of 14 and I saw that it was 6 (under). I missed a short putt on 17 and then caught a gust on 18 but if I wasn’t looking at the leaderboard I should have just cruised through.

“That’s golf and the nerves coming into the game.”

Perhaps it’s best not to look after all.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox hopes to use the pain of past near-misses to secure a maiden European Tour title after qualifying for the match play phase of the ISPS HANDA Super 6 Perth tournament for the first time.

Gusty south-westerly winds presented the 66 players who made the cut with the most challenging conditions of the week but it didn’t stop Sweden’s Per Langfors from posting the best round of the week, an 8-under 64 that propelled him to the top of the leaderboard through 54 holes, the first time he has made the cut in a European Tour event.

Other than guaranteeing passage through to the second round and a handy cheque for the European Tour rookie, however, it will count for little when he faces either New South Welshman Daniel Gale or Spain’s Adrian Otaegui in his first match at Lake Karrinyup on Sunday morning.

An 11-man playoff was required to determine who would fill the final 24 spots in the match play bracket with South Australian Wade Ormsby outlasting England’s Tom Murray at the second playoff hole.

Winner of a match play tournament in the Nordic League last year, Langfors began the third round tied for 48th but stormed into contention on the back of seven birdies and an eagle at the 302m par-4 14th.

After a 77 on Friday Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan recorded his second round of 65 for the week to finish tied for second along with Irishman Paul Dunne (66) and Queensland’s Brad Kennedy (69) with Japan’s Yuta Ikeda, tournament favourite Thomas Pieters and Kiwi pair Ryan Fox and Gareth Paddison rounding out the top eight players who receive a first round bye.

The winner of the match between Perth boy Min Woo Lee and Frenchman Gregory Bourdy will meet Pieters in the second round, the prospect of the tournament drawcard taking on the hometown 20-year-old a mouth-watering one.

Winner of the 2014 WA Open at nearby Cottesloe Golf CLub, Fox will play the winner of the match between Steven Jeffress and Thai sensation Jazz Janewattananond but after falling just short in each of the past two years is first and foremost happy to make it to Sunday.

Two years ago the 32-year-old missed out on advancing to the match play portion in a playoff and stumbled home 12 months ago to miss out by a shot, an even par round of 72 enough to safely finish inside the cut-line this time around.

“It’s certainly nice to be deep into the tournament now,” said Fox, whose best finish in a European Tour event to date is a playoff loss to Russell Knox in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open last year.

“I had the heartbreak of missing out in the playoff the first year. I had a couple of great shots in the playoff and made a meal of things to miss out.

“The same last year, I made a meal of things the last couple of holes to miss out by a shot.

“I always enjoyed match play as an amateur – it’s been a long time since I’ve played it properly – but excited to get into it tomorrow.”

Seven Australians and three Kiwis have qualified for the six-hole knockout phase that will be played over Lake Karrinyup’s 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 18th holes.

Although some players who have qualified for the top-24 have limited recent match play experience there are a number who bring in positive memories from their amateur days in particular.

West Australian Matt Jager won the Australian Amateur at Lake Karrinyup in 2010, Syme was the 2016 Australian Amateur champ while MacIntyre was the 2015 Scottish Amateur winner and 2016 British Amateur runner-up.

Spain’s Adrian Otaegui also fancies his chances in the match play format having won the Belgian Knockout – hosted by Pieters himself – last April while Dunne represented Great Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup as an amateur.

In his Ryder Cup debut for Europe in 2016 Pieters banked a rookie-record four points for his team and has more than lived up to his top-billing status in Perth.

The 27-year-old shrugged off three bogeys and a double bogey at the par-5 3rd to shoot even par on Saturday and secure a place in the top eight, the prospect of a match-up with Min Woo Lee in the second round a promoter’s dream.

Twelve months after he advanced all the way to the quarter-finals as a teenage amateur, Lee’s bogey at the par-4 18th was all that prevented him from also finishing inside the top eight. But before he can take on Pieters he must first get past Bourdy, an experienced European Tour player with top-20 finishes at both the US Open and US PGA Championship on his resume.

“I guess it’s good because you have a bit of momentum if you win,” Lee said of generating momentum with a win in his first match.

“And the guy that you’re playing next knows that you won.

“I did well last year. I love this course so hopefully they’re scared of me.”

Round 1 matches

7am: Daniel Gale v Adrian Otaegui. (Winner to play Per Langfors in Round 2)

7.08am: Min Woo Lee v Gregory Bourdy. (Winner to play Thomas Pieters)

7.16am: Ben Campbell v Clement Sordet. (Winner to play Brad Kennedy)

7.24am: Scott Vincent v Wade Ormsby. (Winner to play Yuta Ikeda)

7.32am: Matt Jager v Andrew Martin. (Winner to play Paul Dunne)

7.40am: Robert MacIntyre v Connor Syme. (Winner to play Gareth Paddison)

7.48am: Steven Jeffress v Jazz Janewattananond. (Winner to play Ryan Fox)

7.56am: Panuphol Pittayarat v Ben Evans. (Winner to play Kristoffer Reitan)

Mention a three-year winless streak to Thomas Pieters and you are quickly corrected.

World Cup champions with Belgian teammate Thomas Detry at Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne last November, Pieters has had a recent taste of that winning feeling.

But for a player once ranked as high as No.23 in the world, he is also acutely aware that it has been a long time since he has won a trophy all of his own.

“It’s been two years, six months and something,” Pieters rattles off, referring to his win at the Made In Denmark tournament in August 2016.

A three-time winner on the European Tour and 2016 Ryder Cup representative, Pieters cast off a head cold to live up to top billing at the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth tournament with a breathtaking round of 6-under 66 at Lake Karrinyup Country Club.

Seven birdies in his opening 11 holes on Friday – and a bogey at the par-4 4th – saw Pieters join Ryan Fox, Matthew Griffin and Panuphol Pittayarat at the top of the leaderboard before taking sole possession of the lead with his eighth birdie of the day at the par-4 14th.

A three-putt bogey at the par-3 17th sees him head into the third round tied at the top and justifying his position as the tournament’s marquee man.

“It’s nice when people give you that title,” Pieters said of his headliner status.

“It’s nice to be up there and to show that even though I’ve made two doubles I’m still up there and that I can play some golf.”

Battling illness since arriving in Perth on Monday, Pieters looked in danger of missing the halfway cut when he made back-to-back double bogeys midway through his opening round.

He responded with four birdies in his final six holes to post 2-under 70 and with the momentum to make a charge on Friday.

“I was pretty mad at the time,” Pieters said of his consecutive double bogeys on Thursday.

“Statistically speaking I bounce back good.

“Obviously after making one double, to make another is because I was mentally still on the last hole.

“Afterwards I kept pretty calm and I knew I was playing good golf.

“Same today. I’ve made a couple of bogeys but I knew I was going to make a lot of birdies as well.”

A masterfully executed up-and-down from the back of the par-5 11th gave Pieters a share of the lead, birdie putts at 12 and 13 only narrowly missing.

The 27-year-old drove the green at the 302-metre par-4 14th for a two-putt birdie but poor iron shots at 15 and 16 necessitated par saves to remain one shot clear of the field.

“I just took the wrong shot,” Pieters said of his 4-iron approach to the par-5 15th that went into the water right of the green.

“I had so much room on the left. I was going for the perfect cut 4-iron to a tight flag, which is dumb in my eyes. Looking back, just hit something at that bunker and if it goes in, you get up and down.

“It’s stuff I have to learn. I’m still learning. I’m 27 and I’ve got a long time to go.

“Looking back now, I’ve learnt that stuff like that that doesn’t help me trying to hit the perfect shot all the time.”

Sitting one shot shy of the leaders are West Australian Matt Jager, Englishman Richard McEvoy and Scottish rookie Robert MacIntyre at 7-under par with Brad Kennedy, Adrian Otaegui, Berry Henson, Ben Campbell and Clement Sordet all at 6-under par.

66 players finished inside the cut line of 1-under par with the round of the day – a 7-under 65 – belonging to Scotland’s Grant Forrest to be 5-under for the tournament.

The top-24 players at the end of the third round qualify for the knockout match play phase of the tournament with the top eight to receive a first round bye.

Play commences on Saturday at 10am local time.

Ryan Fox and Matthew Griffin will use the disappointment of past near-misses to keep the foot to the floor having shot to the top of the leaderboard midway through the second round of the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth tournament.

Using what will likely prove to be the better side of the draw to their advantage, Fox and Griffin were out early on Friday and added to solid starts on Thursday with rounds of 68 and 67 respectively to be 8-under through 36 holes and level with Thailand’s Panuphol Pittayarat on top.

The top-65 and ties on Friday will advance to Saturday’s third round after which the top-24 will qualify for the match play knockout phase on Sunday.

Fox has failed to qualify for the match play by a single shot each of the past two years so is determined to be inside the top eight at the end of the third round and earn a first round bye for Sunday.

“It hasn’t really been kind to me, this three-round cut thing the last couple of years,” said Fox, who also missed out on the match play section of the Belgian Knockout last year in a playoff.

“It’s nice to be in a good position after two days but certainly not taking the foot off the pedal.

“Just got to go and try to make some birdies and try to finish as high as possible.

“There is a little bit of a bonus for finishing in that top eight, getting the first round off, and I’ll certainly be aiming for that. Hopefully a little higher than that tomorrow.

“Who knows what this afternoon will bring but it looks like I’m going to be in a pretty good place.”

Playing the back nine first, Fox made the turn at 2-under and missed birdie opportunities at one and two before three-putting for par having reached the 507-metre par-5 third in two.

He joined a six-way tie for the lead with a birdie at the fourth hole but then gave a shot back at six when a wild tee shot left put him out of position, the 32-year-old unable to get up and down from the bunker.

A birdie at the par-5 seventh, a spectacular sand save at eight and a birdie to close at nine elevated him to top spot alongside Griffin and Pittayarat.

“I didn’t drive it very well today, but I scored nicely. Short game was really good,” said Fox.

“There are some chances out here, especially this morning when there was no wind.

“I holed a couple of nice putts coming home on seven and nine to turn what was looking like a pretty average day into a good day.”

Griffin’s round of 5-under 67 gathered momentum on the back of three consecutive birdies from the 13th to the 15th hole but unlike Fox was unable to turn good looks at seven and nine into birdies at the tail end of his round.

A member of the 2008 Australian team that contested the Eisenhower Trophy in Adelaide, Griffin was proficient in match play as an amateur and believes he can make some inroads if he can qualify for the top-24.

“I always felt like I play my best golf in match play so if I can get into the match play on Sunday, I’ll give myself a good chance,” said the 2016 New Zealand Open champion.

“When you get into a format that you like, it always gives you that little boost.

“I probably always tend to drive the ball pretty straight and putt reasonably well, so I think that matches up well in match play.”

The biggest move of the morning came from young Scotsman Grant Forrest.

Tied for 22nd at last week’s Vic Open, Forrest bounced back from an opening round of 74 to shoot 7-under 67 to be in position to qualify for the match play for the second straight year, the highlight an eagle at the par-5 15th.

Budding superstar Min Woo Lee has vowed to tap into the mindset of the carefree kid who set last year’s ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth alight after putting himself in a strong position through 36 holes at Lake Karrinyup Country Club.

Belgian World Cup winner Thomas Pieters joined Kiwi Ryan Fox, Victorian Matthew Griffin and Thai Panuphol Pittayarat at the top of the leaderboard at 8-under courtesy of a stunning second round of 6-under 66 in the afternoon wave that had the potential to be so much better.

A total of 67 players made it through to Saturday’s third round where the top-24 at day’s end will move through to Sunday’s match play phase of the tournament.

The only amateur in the field 12 months ago, Perth boy Lee enraptured the home fans with a run all the way to the quarter-finals but admits he is feeling the pressure of returning to his home town as a professional.

Following a fourth-place finish at the Saudi International and with affiliate membership of the European Tour, a strong showing over the weekend could provide the 20-year-old with some short-term certainty around his schedule but he knows he needs a positive approach to give himself that chance.

“If you play carefree, you’re going to have a long career,” Lee reasoned after a second round of 3-under 69 that puts him in a tie for 13th heading into Saturday.

“I guess everyone has the nerves. If you do feel the nerves you’re doing something well, right?

“I’m embracing it, but hopefully I can get back to that attitude.

“I had more of a nothing-to-lose attitude last year because I was the only amateur playing, but now that you’re playing for money and you’re playing for your livelihood, there’s a bit of pressure.

“I definitely feel it over putts and just shots.

“I’m a much better player than last year. I know the course and I know if I play well, then I can be up there.

“I’ve had a lot of support over the last two days and it’s not even the weekend yet. Pretty pumped to play the next two days.”

Three birdies in his opening four holes in the afternoon sent a jolt of electricity through the healthy Perth crowd that swelled around his group as the round progressed.

After he made bogey at nine he hit back with a birdie at the downhill 10th and a second bogey at the par-4 13th was followed by consecutive birdies at 14 and 15, a bogey at the last preventing him from making even greater inroads on the leaderboard.

“I was just kind of in between clubs,” Lee said of his approach to the 18th that finished left of the green.

“I threw up grass, it was downwind one time and into the wind the other time. A little bit of commitment issues there but I’m happy with my round.

“We’re just going to go out there tomorrow and go hard. We want to get that top eight spot so we have less pressure of winning the first round (of match play).

“We’re just going to go out there and play some good golf.”

Fellow West Australian Matt Jager is sure to have a strong support network following him also on Saturday after making a late charge up the leaderboard.

The 2010 Australian Amateur champion at Lake Karrinyup, Jager moved into contention with birdies at three, four and seven and added a fourth at the par-5 15th to finish at 7-under par, level with England’s Richard McEvoy and Scottish rookie Robert MacIntyre one shot back of the leaders.

Top-20 at the Australian PGA Championship in December, Jager credits a happy home life and the work he has done with coach Gary Barter in providing clarity on the golf course.

“Obviously went through a few struggles there but I’ve really turned a corner. I feel really confident with what I’m doing out there at the moment,” said Jager after his round of 4-under 68.

“It was a combination of swing changes and expectations I sort of put on myself which were kind of unnecessary.

“I’ve had a great few years working with Gary Barter and he’s given me a lot of clarity with what I’m doing technically.

“That’s really helped with just feeling more confident on the golf course.

“I just feel really settled with where my life’s at at the moment and it’s translating into some good golf.”

It’s impossible not to get caught up in the moment.

Out early to watch 20-year-old wunderkind Min Woo Lee slap a golf ball so hard it winces at the top of his backswing, a scan of the scores at the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth suddenly reveals something extraordinary.

Starting the tournament from the 10th tee in the first group of the day, Miguel Tabuena has birdied all six of his opening holes.

It’s never happened in tournament golf before. Probably.

A quick scan of the draw shows he is just two groups ahead.

We skip across from the 15th tee to the 16the green in time to hear the muted roar of the half dozen people who have cottoned on quicker than we have.

He’s now 7-under through seven. There’s no volunteer lugging a scoreboard to confirm it but the internet never lies.

On the other side of the country former PGA TOUR player Nathan Green tweets in bemusement at what is unfolding in front of us.

“Is this correct,” Green asks.

A two-putt par is somewhat anticlimactic at the par-3 17th but then an audacious second shot into a back-right pin at 18 sets up birdie No.8 in the space of nine holes.

He has played the back nine in only 28 shots and when he takes just three more to complete the par-4 first, we start scouring the record books.

No one has played a tournament round at Lake Karrinyup in less than 63 shots – England’s James Morrison setting the mark at 9-under in 2014 – but Miguel has that number at his mercy. At this rate we’re going to smash the first 59 recorded on the European Tour by Oliver Fisher in Portugal just last September.

Lengthy birdie putts at the second and third holes fail to fall and then a golden opportunity at the par-4 fourth also stays above ground.

Our hearty dozen or so in the gallery has swelled significantly, each of us giddy at the prospect of sharing in something historic… and then disaster.

A bogey.

The bunker right of the par-3 5th green swallows Tabuena’s tee shot and – short-sided – he momentarily resembles a B Grade Wednesday runner-up by chunking his shot out of a difficult lie to the fringe and two-putting from the top of the slope.

All of a sudden he’s 8-under through 14 and the sense of excited anticipation fizzles into thin air.

A scrambled par at six, a Hosung Choi-esque second that flares left of the green at seven, a regulation par at the par-3 eighth and a three-putt bogey on the last and it is done.

It is the most deflating 65 you could imagine.

To his credit, Tabuena admitted that the pressure of maintaining such an impossible standard ultimately forced him into error; playing partner Terry Pilkadaris had a separate theory along a similar theme.

“It’s the cameraman’s curse. They come out and all the birdies stop,” Pilkadaris reasoned after posting a 2-under 70 in Tabuena’s slip stream.

“There were no cameras out or anything and the way he was going I was just scratching my head.

“He’d birdied six in a row and there were no cameras out and I thought, This is strange.”

Strange indeed.

Less than an hour after finishing Tabuena’s score was matched by Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan and given the format of the tournament will count for little on Sunday.

But for a brief moment – at least for only a select few – on an early Thursday morning in Perth Miguel Tabuena flirted with something extraordinary, by reminding us what is possible when no one is watching.

He helped guide the fortunes of tennis Hall of Famer Pete Sampras and now former Fitzroy AFL star Brett Stephens has breathed new life into Nick Flanagan’s professional golf career.

On a day where the afternoon groups in the opening round of the ISPS HANDA Super 6 Perth tournament struggled to make inroads on the early leaders, Flanagan’s round of 4-under 68 held up as the equal best of the Australian contingent, Queensland’s Brad Kennedy matching the mark late in the day.

That Flanagan features may not be such a shock for a player who won the 2003 US Amateur and earned ‘battlefield’ promotion to the PGA TOUR courtesy of three wins in the 2007 Nationwide Tour season but injuries and struggles off the course saw him fall to a career low ranking of 1,925 at the end of 2017.

A top-10 finish at the Australian PGA Championship in December moved him back inside the top 1,000 by year’s end and reuniting with Stephens last week at the ISPS HANDA Vic Open has helped to continue his upward trend.

Tied for 10th at 13^th Beach last week, Flanagan arrived at Lake Karrinyup Country Club ranked 776 in the world and feeling as positive about his prospects as he has for the past five years.

“I feel comfortable with my game, but the mental part of things still needs a bit of work,” Flanagan explained.

“I’ve definitely felt good the last week and a half just going out there and competing and not worrying too much about anything technical.

“The stuff with ‘Moose’ (Stephens) has really helped me a lot to kind of get out of that anxiety I used to get when I’m worried about making cheques; is this going to be the good week or is this going to be the bad week? That’s definitely helped.”

Stephens played 133 games for Fitzroy before moving into fitness coaching, spending five years with Sampras and becoming renowned within tennis circles for his theories.

Rather than a sports psychologist, Flanagan describes Stephens as a “life coach” and said that he is in a much better place personally to take advantage of his expertise.

“We worked together about four or five years ago, but I was going through some tough times with my career and a bunch of other things that were just not feeling great about life in general,” said Flanagan, who played with good friend James Nitties (3-under) in the opening round.

“I decided when I was coming back here and knew we were both going to be in Melbourne that I wanted to start the year on a positive note.

“I knew I had been playing well, so it was just a matter of getting it right between the ears.

“It’s worked well the first five rounds I’ve played at home. It’s going to go pear-shaped at some point but hopefully I’ll be able to deal with it a lot better than I have in the past.”

With virtually no status anywhere outside of Australia, a strong week at a tournament tri-sanctioned with the European and Asian tours has the potential to open the door to new opportunities for the 34-year-old.

Planning to play the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship presented by Toowoomba Regional Council, New Zealand Open and New Zealand PGA Championship after Perth, Flanagan says that he is taking a more holistic approach to his schedule in 2019.

“I haven’t thought of what I’m going to do when I get done with these five events,” he explained.

“The goal for the year pretty much is the stuff I’ve been working on with Moose. It’s not just about this next tournament or the next tournament or the next three weeks, whatever it is. Just kind of going out, making sure I take what the golf course gives me and not try to force it and know that when I do get in a situation where I’m in contention that I’ll be ready to go.

“Whether it’s a missed cut here or there or a bunch of top-10s, as long as I’m giving a good effort to every tee shot and every shot into the green, then it feels like it’s going to be a success.”

Sharing a house this week with Nitties and caddie Joel, Flanagan made fajitas on Wednesday night and shouted Joel a Vienetta cake for his birthday, handing the cooking duties over to Nitties prior to Friday’s second round.

“I cooked last night so I’m definitely not cooking tonight,” said Flanagan.

“It’s probably James. James will probably do his famous spaghetti tonight, I imagine. I’m not sure if it’s going to be red meat or turkey.”

Filipino Miguel Tabuena admits the moment got the better of him after flirting with the Lake Karrinyup course record on his way to a stunning 7-under round of 65 to open the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth tournament.

The first group off the 10th tee at 6.40am, Tabuena rattled off an incredible seven consecutive birdies and added a ninth on the par-4 18th to make the turn in just 28 shots and an early five-shot buffer.

A ninth birdie in 10 holes made James Morrison’s 2014 course record 9-under 63 seem little more than a formality but bogeys at the par-3 5th and his final hole, the par-4 ninth kept the record at bay as he and Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan posted the pick of the morning scores.

Making the turn at 2-under, Reitan followed Tabuena’s lead by plundering birdies on the back nine, picking up shots at 13, 14, 16 and 18 to join the early pace-setter at the top of the leaderboard.

Greeted by idyllic conditions, Newcastle’s Nick Flanagan was the pick of the Aussies on Thursday morning, building on his top-10 finish at last week’s Vic Open with an opening round of 4-under 68.

A silver medallist at the Asian Games in 2010 at just 16 years of age, Tabuena has won twice on the Asian Tour – most recently at the Queen’s Cup in Thailand in December – and boasts a career best round of 10-under 62 at his home course in the Philippines.

The building crowd was on ’59 watch’ shortly after he made the turn and as the TV cameras clamoured around him to capture history in the making the 24-year-old admitted to forcing shots late in his round that prevented him from going even lower.

“I just got ahead of myself the last few holes,” Tabuena said post-round.

“I tried to keep (the score) in the back of my mind but it caught up to me on the third and fourth holes.

“I’m not going to lie, I started to force shots that I wasn’t comfortable with.

“I started to go at pins that I shouldn’t have and the bogey on the par-3 cost me.”

After an audacious shot at a pin on the par-4 fourth that Lake Karrinyup members said they had never seen so far right, Tabuena’s first bogey came when his tee shot at the par-3 fifth landed in the right-side bunker.

Short-sided, Tabuena’s bunker shot failed to progress past the fringe and he two-putted down the slope to make four.

“It wasn’t great at all,” Tabuena said of his lie in the bunker.

“It was on the downslope and someone didn’t rake it properly. It is what it is.”

Somewhat lost amidst Tabuena’s Lake Karrinyup assault were the performances of his playing partners, India’s SSP Chawrasia and Victorian Terry Pilkadaris.

Chawrasia’s 4-under 68 put him in a tie for fourth while Pilkadaris sat just outside the top-10 with a 2-under 70, Pilkadaris in awe of Tabuena’s birdie barrage.

“You just try and make sure to not get in his way really,” Pilkadaris said.

“He holed a couple of 10 and 15-footers for birdie and then hit a couple of close and then next thing you know he’s nine (under) through 10 and doing it easy.

“We were grilling him about what he had for breakfast. It was great to watch.”

“Every hole he make birdie, birdie, birdie, the first six or seven holes,” said Chawrasia. “He made birdie again (at 18) and birdie again the first hole.  So, you know, 9-under after 10 holes, I never seen before.”

So, what was the magic formula for such an astonishing start?

“I just had whatever was in the player’s lounge,” Tabuena said matter-of-factly.

“I had a hash brown, sausages, two eggs and a bagel.

“Same again tomorrow, and same dinner again tonight!”

Englishman Richard McEvoy hopes to use an early start in his second round to solidify his place near the top of the leaderboard after posting the pick of the afternoon scores in the opening round of the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth tournament.

Perfect conditions greeted the morning groups at Lake Karrinyup Country Club and two players in particular took full advantage.

Starting from the 10th tee, Filipino Miguel Tabuena birdied the first seven holes that he played and was 9-under through 10, James Morrison’s 2014 course record of 63 firmly in his sights.

Bogeys at the fifth and ninth holes ended that charge but his 7-under par round of 65 was matched by only one player, Norwegian rookie Kristoffer Reitan.

Queensland’s Brad Kennedy threatened to join them at the top of the leaderboard as he reached 6-under through 10 holes but like Tabuena struggled on his inward nine, back-to-back bogeys at eight and nine resulting in a 4-under 68.

Two shots back after a 5-under round of 67, McEvoy has failed to qualify for the match play section of the tournament in each of the past two years but knows with a morning tee time on Friday he can consolidate his position before the predicted winds pick up in the afternoon.

“You’ve just got to keep plugging away, try and get up there on the leaderboard,” said McEvoy, who ended the day tied for third with Kiwi Ben Campbell, six players sitting a further shot back in a tie for fifth.

“Try to get into that top-5, top-10 and then hopefully Saturday that gives you an even better chance of being in the top-24.

“Also, if you’re in the top eight you get a bye for the first round of match play, so that’s a bonus as well.

“I played the Belgium Knockout last year and made the quarter-finals and I really enjoy playing match play.

“Match play is something that we play all the time in the UK in our amateur days and six holes is a proper shootout so if I can get through it will be good fun.”

For Campbell, who plies his trade predominantly on the Asian Tour, a return to Lake Karrinyup evoked positive memories of his runner-up finish to Matt Jager at the 2010 Australian Amateur.

“I played pretty well around here as an amateur so it’s the kind of course that suits my eye,” Campbell said.

“You have to think your way around here a little bit. There are opportunities out there. It’s one of those courses where if you’re playing well, you’re going to shoot a good score. If you’re not, it’s going to be tough out there.”

Battling illness all week, Belgian headliner Thomas Pieters stumbled with back-to-back double bogeys at the second and third holes – his 11th and 12th of the day – to fall to 2-over but recovered in spectacular fashion.

Consecutive birdies at four and five brought him back to level par and further birdies at seven and nine saw him finish in a logjam of 20 players tied for 16th at 2-under par.

Among those sitting five off the lead are local hopes Jason Scrivener and Min Woo Lee; Matt Jager the best of the Western Australian players at 3-under par.

Former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy struggled to a 4-over 76 while Lucas Herbert and Japan’s Yuta Ikeda both have ground to make up after posting rounds of 2-over 74.

Lucas Herbert and Min Woo Lee are two of Australian golf’s brightest young talents; Geoff Ogilvy wants to help them to become winners.

Still young in their professional careers – Lee only made the move from the amateur ranks in January – both Herbert and Lee have played well above their weight in the past two editions of the ISPS HANDA Super 6 Perth tournament.

When the 2019 event tees off on Thursday morning at Lake Karrinyup Country Club the pair will be among the top-10 tournament favourites with bookmakers but Ogilvy knows it takes more to transfer talent into professional wins.

A winner of eight US PGA TOUR events including the 2006 US Open, Ogilvy relocated with his family back to Melbourne in January and hopes that he and other experienced Aussies can help the next generation realise their potential.

“One of the things I would love to do when I’m at home is just play golf with all these guys,” said Ogilvy, back at Lake Karrinyup for the first time since the 2014 Perth International.

“Just practise with these guys, play with an ulterior motive that it will help me to get better too.

“If they can learn anything from me either just by watching or any advice they ask or anything like that, that would be great.

“I don’t feel like we owe it but it’s a nice thing if each generation can kind of keep helping the generation to follow.

“We’ve got so many successful golfers out of the last 20 or 30 or 40 years. There’s a lot of experience and wealth of knowledge there that might never have been found in the past.

“And not just me, it’s all the guys. The Marcus Frasers, the Peter O’Malleys and the Mike Claytons, a whole bunch.

“None of us know everything, but we all know a little bit. Collectively, that knowledge would be a real bonus for these kids.

“It would be a step forward, an advantage. Just being around guys who have done it I think helps.

“When I got to play with experienced guys when I was young, whether they tell you anything or not, you learn just by being around them and watching them, how they go about things.

“It would be great to see the Aussie pros who have had success come back and just be a part of the whole thing.

“No one has to take a very active role, just be a part of it when these kids call.

“They understand the golf swing and the technique up and down, but we know how to apply that to winning tournaments. There’s a gap there, for sure.

“I think it could be really, really beneficial.”

Admitting that he is unlikely to ever return to a full playing schedule as he pursues other interests, does school drop-offs and watches his beloved St Kilda AFL team, Ogilvy is unsure to what extent he will play tournament golf in 2019.

He will play the New Zealand Open in two weeks’ time and indicated that he will play the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on the PGA TOUR in April but will be primarily focused on quality golf over quantity.

“I’ve never been more motivated to be a good golfer, but I’ve never been less motivated to run around with a suitcase and go to strange places and leave the family,” said Ogilvy, who will play alongside Japan’s Yuta Ikeda and South Australian Wade Ormsby in the opening round on Thursday.

“I would think 10, 12, 15 (tournaments) a year would be a pretty reasonable guess on what’s going on; where they are, I’m not sure.

“Whether I move more in the architecture direction and just play part-time golf or I just kind of need a year off and get back into full-time golf, I’m not really sure yet.

“I just want to do the school run, the footy coaching, all that sort of stuff. Go and see the Saints play a little bit, be Australian for a while and play golf selectively and work on the game.

“As it stands right now, I would be surprised if I was a full-time guy again, but you never know.”

A partner with the Ogilvy Clayton Cocking Mead golf course design company that has overseen extensive changes at Lake Karrinyup, playing more often on Australia’s best courses is another positive in Ogilvy’s return home.

“It’s just an immaculately-conditioned better version of what we’ve always known at Karrinyup. I think it’s great,” he said.

“There are some quite dramatic shots because you’re coming downhill to some of these greens and it’s quite a spectacular place, too, in spots. You run out of praise, it’s just a great place to play golf.

“I definitely got a bit jaded with the US Tour. The PGA TOUR is an incredible tour, it’s unbelievable, but it just didn’t inspire me anymore. I wasn’t getting excited to see these golf courses.

“Every now and then you get some really amazing ones on that tour, but generally the setups I didn’t really enjoy.

“An added bonus to being here is being able to come and play more tournaments on courses that I enjoy and this is one of the examples.”