Elvis Smylie produced a brilliant round of 65 to ensure there was a home favourite sat at the top of the BMW Australian PGA Championship leaderboard.
The 22-year-old was one of the early starters at a rain-soaked Royal Queensland Golf Club and he successfully battled the elements to card eight birdies and two dropped shots and set the daunting clubhouse target at six under.
Victor Perez had matched his total through 13 holes as the torrential weather ramped up further in the afternoon, but a bogey at the 15th saw the Frenchman slip back alongside Switzerland's Joel Girrbach, Australian Matias Sanchez and Chile's Cristobal Del Solar at five under in Brisbane.
The Gold Coast native has sporting genes through his parents Liz and Peter Smylie, former professional tennis players who were mixed doubles partners at the 1983 French Open.
Smylie, named after American singer Elvis Presley, outshone a plethora of Australian stars to earn a one-shot lead courtesy of a hole out from the bunker at the ninth - his last - in the opening round of the 2025 DP World Tour season.
"It's a home game for me this week," Smylie said. "I'm from the Gold Coast, it's only an hour's drive.
"I've played a lot of golf here. I'm quite familiar with the course and every part of my game's really good at the moment. I'm really comfortable with what I'm doing.
"I think you try to just keep the levels the same compared to what every other tournament is, but it's a little bit tricky when you know that it's a bigger tournament.
"It's great having all the Aussies back home and supporting the Australian tournaments. And it's great to compete against them because ultimately I want to be in their shoes and what they're doing in their career.
"It's great for me to be able to compare my game against theirs and see what areas I need to improve on."
Smylie got into the red numbers with his first birdie at the 12th, only to hand that shot back at the next. He responded by picking up a shot at the 14th and another birdie at the 16th to gain some momentum.
The World Number 736 began his back nine in style, carding birdies at the first and second before bogeying the third to sit at three under.
He followed up with a brace from the sixth before a stunning finish helped him take the outright lead.
Smylie found the bunker with his second shot before mis-hitting into the greenside sand trap, but he did not need his putter as he holed out to reach six under.
Perez was the main challenger from the late starters as he rolled in birdies at the second, fifth, seventh and eighth to reach the turn in 32.
A brace from the 12th saw him join Smylie at the summit, however, his only dropped shot at the 15th saw him drop to five under, where he remained after parring his way home.
Girrbach did not hang around after making a birdie-birdie start before signing his only bogey of the round at the sixth.
He finished his front nine with a gain before an eagle at the 15th and birdie at the 16th catapulted the Swiss into second place, where he was later joined by Perez, Sanchez and Del Solar.
Sanchez, starting at the tenth, was out of contention after two bogeys and a gain on his front nine, but he came home in a blemish-free 30 to climb up to five under.
Del Solar mixed two birdies with two bogeys on his front before climbing back into the red numbers a gain at the 11th. The 31-year-old surged into tied second thanks to four birdies in his final five holes.
Jason Day led a group of five Australians at four under alongside Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Ben Eccles and David Micheluzzi, who had the honour of hitting the opening tee shot of the campaign.
English duo Jordan Smith and Matthew Southgate, South Africa's Aldrich Potgieter and Spaniard Ivan Cantero were also two shots off the lead in the logjam at four under.
South Korea's MK Kim recorded the first hole-in-one of the campaign after using an eight iron to ace the 178-yard par-three 11th.
