Kristalle Blum eviscerated Rosebud Country Club in perfect conditions with a course record 62, her career-low, to push hometown hero James Marchesani off the top of the leaderboard in Round One of the Webex Players Series Victoria.

Adelaide’s Blum, winner of the inaugural Athena event in 2021 but who struggled in Europe last year, surprised herself with a stunning nine-birdie round including a hole-out eagle from 55 metres at the par-4 second hole.

Two bogeys were thrown in for entertainment value, and her 62 displaces the Rosebud women’s course record of 63 set by Kirsten Rudgeley in 2021.

The 26-year-old Blum is a shot ahead of Marchesani, who reprised his opening 63 in the 2023 iteration of this tournament with the same score, featuring eight birdies and not a single blemish. New South Wales' Nathan Barbieri also ran hot with an 8-under opening round.

Justin Warren closed with four straight birdies and at 7-under is tied-third with veteran Mat Goggin, while a group of nine players is at 6-under, three shots from the lead.

Blum started out hot on the back nine and rolled in five consecutive birdies from 13 to 17.

“I knew that I wanted to take advantage of today,” she said. “The weather was always looking like it wasn’t going to be too windy, and tomorrow’s not looking that great, so I was hoping afternoon-morning (draw) would be good.

“I would definitely take that. I was very nervous beforehand. I had a chat with Mum, and it was like ‘I don’t feel great, my heart’s racing, I can’t get it under control’, but she was like ‘it’s adrenaline, it’ll be fine, just use that and trust that and the ball will go further’.

“I’ve made a few changes in my swing over the last few weeks and it’s good to see that coming to fruition.”

Scoring was low in round one with the course in near-perfect condition and no wind to speak of.

Marchesani, with 12-year-old Rosebud junior Jude Farrelly on his bag, delivered for the locals with his 8-under round.

Last year he was joint leader through the first round, staying on top into the final day only to be reeled in by South Korea’s Min A Yoon who closed with a 63.

This time, he hopes to go one better, and he has enthusiastic support from his fellow club members not to mention his mother’s home-cooked gnocchi.

He holed a couple of long putts and even when he hit his “worst shot of the day”, a pushed drive into the sandy wasteland at his last hole, the ninth on the course, he got up-and-down to save par.

“If you can do that for four days, you’re going to go a long way, because there are a lot of birdies out here,” he said. “Eight -under bogey-free first round’s a good start. Three more of those and I’ll probably go pretty close.”

McKinney was the one of his closest challengers who threatened the most.

The Western Australian had a long birdie putt from the fringe at the 18^th which almost went in, and would have given him a 62 and the outright lead. He then missed from short range once, then twice for a double bogey and an opening 65.

Marchesani appreciated the support and love that was there for him.

“Everyone here wants me to play well, for good reason,” he said. “But I know if I play as good as I can, it’s going to be pretty close to winning, which it was last year. I got beaten by a better player on the week. But if I can shoot a similar score it’s going to be pretty close again.

“It’s nice to play in front of friends and family because it doesn’t happen too often. Which makes it a little bit more relaxed.”