Aron Price and Josh Younger have taken an early lead in the Victorian PGA Championship at Huntingdale Golf Club.

Aron Price and Josh Younger have taken an early lead in the Victorian PGA Championship at Huntingdale Golf Club.

The Club presented the course in pristine conditions and some great scores have been posted in the morning session.

Victorian Younger used his experience playing at Huntingdale to his advantage to shoot a 6-under 66 that included seven birdies and only the one bogey on the 18^th.

“It was a good round, I got off to a good start and made a couple of birdies late around the back-9, unfortunately I bogeyed the last but I’ll take that,” Younger said.

“I putted pretty well and I only made the one bogey on the last hole, I played the par-5’s really well and it was just a good solid round.

Younger said his approach this time around has been the biggest change he’s made in preparation for the Championship.

“I’ve played here quite a bit but never very well, so I’ve a changed a few things heading in to this week and so far it’s worked, hopefully it continues.”

“You’ve just got to be in the fairway around here, it’s a pretty tight course.

“I managed to do that for most of today and got on to a few greens then holed a few putts so it was good.”

Joining Younger at the top of the leaderboard after the morning session on is Aron Price who putted his way to the top despite a shaky start.

“I holed a good putt on the 5^th and 6^th and then I hit another three-putt. I’ve changed my putting routine and I’ve been putting well for the first time in a long time,” Price said.

“So even though I did have a few three-putts, I was still alright because I actually hit good putts so I wasn’t too frustrated.

“My putting was definitely the highlight of my game today I didn’t hit that many too close, I holed probably four putts outside of 15 feet so that’s rare for me!”

Price said he came in to the tournament with low expectations on his performance and he says the relaxed approach was a big reason he currently shares the lead.

“I’m trying to take a different approach, I’m always going to try and hit the best shot I can but I’m just trying to be more relaxed in between shots.

“I only got here at lunch time yesterday and played nine holes so I didn’t have very high expectations which typically works out better for me.”

Another standout from the morning session was New Zealand’s Brad Shilton who clearly has an affinity with Huntingdale, after playing well here in 2016, he backed up with 5-under 67 including an eagle on the par-5 14^th.

“Nice way to start the year, birdied the 1st and holed a nice bunker shot on the 2nd so I kicked it off pretty nicely and then played nicely for the next five or six,” Shilton said.

“I missed a couple of chances throughout, I lost a bit of concentration and bogeyed the 8^th, I got things going again when I birdied the 10^th and made a nice eagle on 14.

“I bogeyed 17 so it was a bit of a sloppy finish but I’m still pretty happy with that round.”

Like many in the field, Shilton said he’s happy to be stuck in to tournament season again but admitted there still may be a few cobwebs to shake loose.

“Might be a bit rusty being the first tournament round of the year but things feel pretty good.

“I’ll have the same plan tomorrow, sounds like the course will be pretty similar, the weather’s not doing much so it’ll probably play like it did today maybe with a bit more wind.

“Game plan will be the same, I’ll just knock it round and try to make some birdies.”

Q-School winner Taylor Macdonald and Anthony Houston join Shilton in a three-way-tie for third.

For full scores and standings visit pga.org.au.