Out early, Hendry and Peake both got off to incredibly hot starts in the calm morning conditions, and the 64s they eventually signed for could have remarkably both been lower.
 
On the other side of the draw, Wongras’ 64 in the afternoon was a masterful display of precision, the Thai 17-year-old making nine birdies on her opening round.
 
There was no shortage of low scoring today, with 31 players 4-under or better and the end of play. Four players are tied fourth at 6-under, with Brad Kennedy, Jake McLeod, Todd Sinnott and Anthony Quayle all carding 65.
 
While an even larger cluster are tied eighth at 5-under, including WPGA Tour of Australasia trio Justice Bosio, Jess Whitting and Belinda Ji.

Wongras managed to start her day with four consecutive birdies on the back nine at Cobram, and rolled in two more alongside just the one bogey to make the turn in 5-under.
 
“My putting was just working today,” said Wongras. “It was nice, the wind was pretty calm and the golf course was really nice.”

Wongras managed a further three birdies on her second nine, including two back-to-back late in the round to take some momentum into Friday.
 
Having played most of her golf last year back home in Thailand, Wongras usually makes the most of her limited visits to Australia and finished in a tie for nineteenth on the Murray last year.
 
Starting on opposite sides of the course, both Peake (28) and Hendry (30) took apart each half of Cobram’s Old Course to start their days.
 
Carding an eagle, a bogey and six birdies on his opening nine, Peake packed the fireworks for his trip to the Murray, as it looked as if the club record may be in danger.
 
“Oh yeah, I was thinking about it” Peake said of looking at an ultra-low score.
 
“Putted really well on the front nine, took advantage of all my opportunities.
 
“I just saw the lines perfectly and rolled them all in, but I think you can’t expect to play like that for all 18-holes.”
 
An even-par back nine with two birdies and two bogeys paled in comparison to the front, although Peake wasn’t complaining with his name atop the leaderboard.
 
“Towards the back nine the wind started to pick up a little bit, so I got a few wedge numbers wrong. Didn’t give myself the best opportunities,” he said.
 
“I don’t think the putts roll in quite as easy in the afternoon as they do early in the morning and that’s kind of what I found on the back nine, but no, very, very satisfied with that start.
 
“I think early in the morning it’s always been known that that’s when you’ve got to shoot your score, so very happy to have done it.”
 
Similarly, Hendry opened his Murray River account with a 6-under 30 on the back nine at Cobram, the Kiwi admitting the fast start came as a bit of a surprise to even him.
 
“Yeah, the way I’ve been putting, yes, I am a bit surprised,” Hendry said with a smile. “My putter has been a little bit uncooperative, but I actually put a new one in today and been working with a friend of mine back home on customising it and it really worked nicely today, so hopefully it stays nice and hot.”
 
Again, in a similar fashion to Peake, it was a tale of two nines for Hendry, however his only two blemishes came in his final three holes, leaving a bitter sting to what was otherwise a flawless round of golf.
 
“It’s obviously pretty early in the year and I haven’t played a lot of golf, so been working pretty hard from the beginning of last week really to try and sort of chip the rust off and work on what me and my coach are working on,” he said.
 
“I definitely had it there for a while today, which is great, and the great thing is the bad shots came from not quite doing what I wanted to do, so it proves to me that what we’re working on is the right thing.”
 
Finishing seventh last year on the Murray, Hendry has fond memories and says the course here is a great match for his accurate game.
 
“It’s quite narrow in places and essentially that’s my game,” he said. “I hit it pretty straight, hit a lot of greens and hopefully if I can putt well, I will have a good round of golf pretty much like I did today.
 
“It’s just a matter of making sure the putter’s cooperating, and most of the time if that happens on a course like this, I’m probably going to do okay.”