Lydia Hall’s end-of-year form has resurfaced at the start of 2025 to lift the Welsh visitor into contention at Webex Players Series Victoria at Rosebud Country Club.

The former Ladies British Masters champion, who won three times on the WPGA Tour of Australasia in 2024, posted a six-under-par 64 to sit in equal fifth place, two shots behind the first-round leader, Queensland’s Jake McLeod.

Reigning Vic Open champion Ashley Lau and West Australian Abbie Teasdale, who is coming off a first pro win at the Drummond Golf Melbourne International last week, are the second highest-placed women at 5-under.

Before today, Hall’s last competitive round was on December 17 when she completed a four-stroke lead at the NSW Women’s Open Regional Qualifier at Duntryleague in Orange.

“Australia is always a place that I love to come to,” Hall said.

“Last year was a bit scrappy on the European Tour, but I managed to finish it off with a nice win at Duntryleague. So the form has been good and I played solidly today.

“I absolutely love playing with the guys. They’re so aggressive with their golf and there's so much to be learned and respected from their game.

“I did pretty well a couple of years ago here. I think it was in the last couple of groups and finished sixth to 10th. So I’ve had good memories from this course.”

Defying the strong afternoon winds that hit Rosebud Country Club, McLeod surpassed his own expectations to take the outright lead.

McLeod thought early on that a 2-under-par score that would leave him five shots behind the morning leaders would be a pleasing result given the difficult conditions he was facing.

He ended up smashing that mark, posting an 8-under-par 62, including playing the last six holes in 5-under, to lead NSW-based trio Corey Lamb, Harrison Crowe and Nathan Barbieri by a shot.

It’s the second consecutive Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia event that McLeod has led after round one. He ended up finishing equal fifth at Webex Players Series Perth at Royal Fremantle.

“Once we got to about hole eight, (the wind) started pumping. It was pretty crazy out there,” the former Order of Merit champion said.

“I was only a couple under at that time and I was just hoping to finish a couple under, to be honest, in that wind.

“I never really hit any trouble. It was pretty much every fairway, most probably 16 greens or something, so that was very impressive in that sort of wind, being able to control the ball like that.”

Lamb, Crowe and Barbieri all played in the benign morning conditions, as did Hall and Andrew Campbell, who finished with 6-under-par 64s.

Another person right at home at Rosebud, the three-time club champion James Marchesani, threatened to go very low on day one, turning in six-under-par 29.

Playing alongside his brother Anthony, the reigning Rosebud club champion, Marchesani’s momentum stalled with a bogey on his 10th hole, the par-4 first, and he eventually came home in 1-over 36 to post a 5-under-par 65. Anthony carded a 1-over 71.

Peter and Chloe Wilson created history when they teed off, becoming the first father-daughter combination to play professionally in the same Tour event, Peter eventually taking the family honours with a 68 to Chloe's 78.