Playing in her first Webex Players Series event, Green wasted no time in asserting her major championship credentials, bolting out of the blocks to post seven-under 64 in the morning wave to share top spot with 2021 Queensland Open champion Andrew Evans.

Kiwi Hanee Song (66) added to the female presence towards the top of the leaderboard on day one, tied for third alongside former PGA TOUR winner Andre Stolz and Victorian Hayden Webb with nine players in a share of sixth at four-under.

There was a slight stumble at the 210-metre par-3 16th when her 5-wood came up short of the green and she failed to get up-and-down but the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA champion bounced back with consecutive birdies at the first and second holes to move to seven-under through 11 holes.

A birdie at the par-5 sixth was offset by a second bogey at the par-4 seventh but Green will carry plenty of positive momentum into her second round on Friday afternoon.

“I was six-under through six so I was like, Oh wow, this could be a low one today,” said Green, who hit her approach shot into the 10th to 10-feet and drained the putt for eagle.

“I had a good club choice coming in and hit it a lot closer than I thought. Managed to hole a 10-footer for eagle to start my day and then hit it really close when I made my birdies as well.

“It was kind of effortless which was nice but hit a couple of stray tee shots and made a couple of bogeys but overall I’m pretty happy with my game.”

“I heard she was six-under through six,” said Evans, who won Japan Golf Tour Q School to earn full status for the 2022 season.

“A lot of people were saying that Hannah was going to win by 10 so it will be interesting.

“It would be good to be near her towards the end or thereabouts but we’ll see how this week goes.

“I think it’s great. It’s great for spectators, it will be great for junior girls too if they can come out and see some of these great female players.”

Evans had seven birdies in his bogey-free 64, something of a surprise early leader given he considered skipping the event completely.

“My expectations were pretty low; I was just trying to have some fun,” Evans explained.

“I was contemplating not playing this week because this will be six out of seven weeks and I haven’t had much time off but it is hard to say no to some events.

“You do wonder about momentum and trying to find some things and get some reps up.

“Rosebud showed that I wasn’t playing that good and had to pull my finger out and try and play better. Vic Open was a big improvement – unfortunately just missed the third-round cut.

“I’m just keen to be relaxed, be aggressive when I can and have fun out there.”

Tasmanian Matthew Docking (67) was matching Green’s hot start only to make triple-bogey seven at his final hole to fall into a share of sixth with eight other players at four-under par.