Australian amateur Jake Higginbottom has joined Andre Stolz and Martin Dive in a share of the first-round lead at the NSW PGA Championship on Friday at Wollongong Golf Club.
The trio all fired eight-under-par 62s to be one shot clear of the three-man chasing pack which consisted of Kurt Barnes, Rohan Blizard and Peter Wilson on seven-under.
Higginbottom admitted it was a new experience to be on top of the leaderboard in a professional tournament and he knew the job would be ahead of him if he wanted to stay there for remainder of the competition.
"It is a bit harder to lead a professional tournament because I know I have to go low again for the next two rounds if I want to stay in contention," said Higginbottom
"But I don't feel too much different or too much pressure compared to in my amateur tournaments, we will see what happens tomorrow."