Australian David Micheluzzi has produced a sublime opening round at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships to grab pole position in record-setting style in Singapore.
Among the late starters at the Sentosa Golf Club, the 22-year-old Victorian constructed one of the rounds of his career to hold a one stroke lead on Thursday - thanks to a jaw-dropping eagle on the par-four 18th.
Micheluzzi found the hole with his pitching wedge, the product of pre-tournament practice.
"I was working on my pitching last week and it was just the perfect three-quarter pitch shot," he said.
The current world No.13 amateur upstaged favoured compatriot Min Woo Lee with a course record six-under 64 to top the leaderboard from Filipino Lloyd Jefferson Go, China's Jin Cheng and Liu Yung-Hua (Chinese-Taipei).
Micheluzzi defied hot, muggy conditions and an afternoon downpour to record six birdies before finishing with a flourish to more than complement Lee's impressive four-under 66.
Lee, the highest ranked player in the field at world No.10, finished in style with his fifth birdie after sinking a 20-foot downhill putt on the ninth.
The Fremantle-based 20-year-old felt he would have signed for an even better round had his putter not let him down.
"I thought I left a few out there," said Lee, who was in a marquee group featuring Jin, the 2015 Asia-Pacific champion.
Lee starts Friday's second round in a five-way tie for fifth.
Micheluzzi and Lee's promising start also has Australia handily placed in the team component while the individual winner earns a start in next year's Masters at Augusta.
Victorian captain Zach Murray and Shae Wools-Cobb made even-par 70s to be in a tie for 30th while Blake Windred (72) and Dylan Perry (73) rounded out the Australian contingent.
Wools-Cobb was left to rue a sloppy finish to his round after he slipped from four-under with five to play.
The Queenslander lost momentum with two bogeys and a double bogey on the run home.
