Praising the Blackwater Golf Club greens as the best that players have seen in the Mining Town Series to date, Hart’s combination of aggressive mindset and superb run of form produced a course record 10-under 62 in Saturday’s opening round.

As has become his habit, Hart completed his round with an eagle at the par-4 fifth hole having peeled off eight birdies in his previous 17 holes to take a two-shot lead into the final round.

Winner of five of his past seven starts – he was top-five in the other two – Hart is not only well placed to win at Blackwater but with a 19-shot lead pick up the lion’s share of the $8,000 bonus prizemoney having already taken out the Hidden Valley Whitsundays North Queensland Series.

“Needless to say, I feel really comfortable on the courses here in Central Queensland,” said Hart.

“They tend to lend themselves to being able to hit driver more often than not and I love that the courses allow me to keep playing aggressive.

“The greens here at Blackwater Golf Club are easily the best we have played in the Mining Town Series and it gave me plenty of confidence knowing if I hit it on line it was going to go in.

“Having won here in 2014 I have really good memories and that certainly helps when you are standing on tees trying to remember holes from 12 months ago.”

New South Welshman Nathan Barbieri will be hoping to turn a consistent run of form into a victory on Sunday after his round of 8-under 64 with former European Tour player Sam Brazel in outright third after a round of 6-under 64 that featured five birdies and an eagle at the par-5 11th.

With a nine-round accumulative total of 55-under par Hart leads the Mining Towns Series by 19 strokes, Shae Wools-Cobb, Gavin Fairfax and Damien Jordan left to fight it out for the minor placings.

At 36-under par Wools-Cobb (68) is five strokes clear of Fairfax (68) and Jordan (70) who are both 31-under par in the nine rounds they have played to date. The final round of the Downer Blackwater Pro-Am tees off tomorrow from 6.45am with Tim Hart teeing off alongside Barbieri at 11.30am from the first tee.