Unfazed after being snubbed for a pro-am start, little-known Lincoln Tighe defied his lowly ranking to upstage world No.1 and defending champion Jordan Spieth to seize the Australian Open first-round lead.
As Spieth and Adam Scott struggled to even-par 71s in brutally hot and fluky winds at The Australian Golf Club, the big-hitting Tighe collected seven birdies in an impressive five-under 66 on Thursday.
The world No.1022 from Wollongong played fearlessly to grab a one-stroke lead over US PGA star and local club member Matt Jones with birdies on the third, fourth, fifth, seventh, 10th, 11th and 16th holes.
"It's unreal," Tighe said after backing up his 55th placing at last week's Australian Masters with the best round of his career.
"I felt even last week at Huntingdale my game was there. I just didn't really get anything out of it, but it feels unreal to be here and be playing as good as I did.
"This is probably the strongest field I've seen here for a long time and to see some of the big names and even to look at the pro-am sheet for Wednesday, I walked over to see if I was in because normally my category just slots into the pro-am and I didn't get a start.
"I had a look and I thought `no, I probably don't deserve to get a start.'"
Without a pro-am invite, Tighe wasn't even allowed a round on the tournament eve.
"I just came to the course and did drills," he said.
"I only needed one practice round."
The 26-year-old says he can bomb it 300 metres on the fly and sees no reason why he can't continue his push for an unlikely triumph in the milestone 100th Open.
"There's only probably two or three holes out here that you've got to respect, I guess, off the tee," Tighe said.
"But a lot of the other ones it opens up where I hit my driver, so it just always suits me here, and I love it."
Former champion Geoff Ogilvy recovered from a mid-round wobble to post a 68 to share third spot with countryman Todd Sinnot and Taiwanese amateur Chun-An Yu.
John Senden, the 2006 winner, Brett Rumford, Stephen Leaney, Alistair Presnell and Korean Joon-woo Choi are all a further shot back after firing 69s.
While Spieth never got hot in the morning, Scott battled back gallantly from two double-bogeys on the front nine to stay well in the hunt, five strokes adrift of Tighe.
"Even though I made some mistakes, I can come out and have a good front nine tomorrow and I will be right on the front foot again," Scott said.
There's no way back for Peter Senior, though, after the veteran crashed back to earth following his Masters victory on Sunday with a horror nine-over 80.
"I'm embarrassed and ashamed," Senior said.
Fellow former champions Greg Chalmers (76), Peter Lonard (77) and Craig Parry (81) also made miserable starts.
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