Co-leader Mark Brown is a rare Kiwi face near the top of an Australian-dominated leaderboard following Thursday's opening round of the New Zealand PGA Championship in Auckland.
Seasoned professional Brown shares the lead with Australia's James Nitties, on seven-under-par 65, with Queenslanders Brett Rankin and Tim Hart a stroke back in a share of third.
Josh Geary, on four under, and Brown are the only New Zealanders in the top 14 at Remuera Golf Club, which had served up blustery conditions for much of the day at the $NZ125,000 ($A114,000) tournament.
Brown made the most of an early tee time, holing an eagle on the par-5 first hole to set the scene.
He went on to fire seven birdies but also carded three bogeys.
Brown has played just two events on the PGA Tour of Australasia this season with Thursday's round comfortably his best.
"There was a little bit of rust there but it was nice to knock in a few putts today," he said.
"For me, if I can get the putter working a bit, it always helps. I certainly rolled in a few today which was nice."
It was a sound start from Geary, the runner-up last year to Australian Matthew Millar, whose opening 70 left him sharing 27th place.
Former champions Steve Alker (2009) and Michael Hendry (2012, 2013) of New Zealand are level with Millar.
