Former amateur star Harrison Crowe cashed in on a red-hot putter to take a one-shot first-round lead after a day of low scoring at the New Zealand Open.
Sunny conditions left the Millbrook Resort layout at the mercy of the field on Thursday, and they took full advantage with more than half of the field breaking par.
Nobody capitalised more than Crowe, who had one eagle and nine birdies in a nine-under round of 62 where the only blemish was a double-bogey six on the 13th after he lashed his tee shot out of bounds.
Even then, the 23-year-old bounced straight back with an eagle-three on the following hole.
"I definitely had a lot of things go my way today and I think to shoot these rounds you have to," said Crowe who won the Asia-Pacific Amateur and the NSW Open in 2022 before turning professional the following year.
"After that double bogey, to back it up with the eagle ... it was a nice day out there."
Crowe had a hot run before Christmas with top-10 finishes at the NSW Open, Australian PGA and Australian Open, but had missed his last three cuts on the Australasian Tour before arriving in Arrowtown.
"It's felt a little bit annoying at times over the last month of golf," he said.
"But it's got to turn around eventually because I've been playing solid-enough golf and the putts finally went in today so we've got to keep it rolling."
Fellow Australian James Marchesani was in outright second at eight under, a shot clear of Australians Lucas Herbert and Kevin Yuan, and South Korean Guntaek Koh.
LIV Golf star Herbert is playing the NZ Open for the first time since 2020 and is eyeing the guaranteed British Open spots on offer to both the Australiasian Tour Order of Merit (OOM) winner and the tournament victor.
He holed a clutch birdie putt from off the fringe on the 17th on Thursday to get to seven under, but was frustrated not to drain another makeable birdie attempt on the last hole.
"I've struggled with the putter for a while," said Herbert.
"I felt like I putted OK without being amazing.
"I hit a lot of good puttts but I couldn't get as many to go in as I would have liked.
"It's probably going to be a week of low scoring so it was good to get off to a hot start and not feel like we're chasing from a long way back."
OOM pacesetter Elvis Smylie is well placed in a big group tied for ninth at five under.
Playing in the same group as Smylie, OOM contender Jack Buchanan had a dirty day.
He eventually signed for an eight-over 79 to be in second-last spot.
Takahiro Hataji from Japan made a middling start to his title defence in the $A1.8 million event with a two-under 69.
