Australian golfers are well-placed to make a bid for a spot at the US Masters after some strong performances in the opening round of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
Lanky Melbourne golfer Todd Sinnott leads the field by a shot after opening with a superb five-under 67.
This week's winner gains automatic entry into the field at Augusta in April.
Hot on Sinnott's heels is Chinese golfer, Guan Tianling, who carded a 68.
He won the event two years ago and not only made the cut aged 14 at Augusta but also finished leading amateur.
Tianling sounded an ominous warning to the rest of the field after his round.
"I felt very comfortable today and had a good start making a lot of good putts," he said.
"I played pretty smart. You can't be too aggressive on this course. You just play safe and try to make a couple of birdies."
Emerging Australian amateur golfers Anthony Murdaca (69), Ryan Ruffels (71), and Cory Crawford (71) did no harm to their chances of a trip to Augusta.
The tournament leader, Sinnott, is not getting ahead of himself.
"There's a long way to go yet," he said after taking advantage of the benign morning conditions over Royal Melbourne's famous composite layout.
Sinnott finished his round with a flourish, rolling in birdie putts on the par five 17th (three metres) and the par four 18th (five metres) but said the best putt of his round was on the sixth hole.
"It was only about four metres but it had some serious left to right break on it," he said.
Sinnott cut his golfing teeth at Kooringal golf club in Melbourne's west after his mum and dad took him there for a game in his early teenage years.
"Before that I was mainly into basketball and Australian rules," he said, "but soon I was hooked."
He finished sixth in the WA Open last week and is looking forward to playing in the Australian Masters next month at Metropolitan, the club where he plays pennant golf.
A powerful hitter, Sinnott used his driver only twice during his round.
"This is a course where you need to contain yourself. It's all about positioning the ball. You can make double bogey here as quickly as you can make a birdie by attacking," he said.
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