Hailing from Queensland, but a longtime Sydney resident and owner of Golf Traders in the city’s Inner West, a hot putter saw Fearns open with a 7-under 62, with a one shot advantage over Order of Merit leader Andre Stolz and Mike Harwood, who is headed for semi-retirement.

Stolz and Harwooda shot in front of the evergreen Peter Lonard chasing his first Australian PGA Senior Championship and Andrew Welsford, with PGA TOUR Champions player David Bransdon and last week’s NSW Senior Open winner David McKenzie part of a six way tie for sixth on 4-under.

Bransdon and McKenzie’s opening 65s matched by 12-time winner this year Chris Taylor, Terry Pilkadaris, Lucien Tinkler and defending champion Jason Norris.

Teeing it up on the PGA Legends Tour more than any other player, with 62 starts in 2024, Fearns first round started with a missed birdie putt at the par-5 first, before the story changed quickly from there.

“It was sensational,” said Fearns surmising his day that included four consecutive birdies from the second.

“It was just one of those days with the putter. I haven’t putted that well for five years.”

A working putter is just part of the equation to success at Richmond, which is in its 10^th year of hosting the over-50s version of the Australian PGA Championship and requires straight driving, with Fearns combining both in his eight birdie, one bogey round.

“I still enjoy playing pro-ams. I love it, but I just love playing golf,” Fearns said.

“I think for me now, over the last few years, it’s definitely been about the putter, the ball striking has still been, never changed, hasn’t changed. But today I’ll just holed a lot of putts.”

The putter will need to stay hot over the weekend given the quality of the chasing pack, especially 2020 champion Stolz, who is prepping his game to head to the final stage of PGA TOUR Champions qualifying school next month.

Without a bogey on his card, Stolz looks dangerous at course he played a role in a change of layout to a tougher finishing stretch, while also accommodating the new party hole eighth.

“I was a bit worried about the forecast with the strong westerly blowing and it was actually really weird today. The wind was sort of switching back and forwards,” Stolz said.

“So that’s sort what made it tricky, but it didn’t really start blowing hard until towards the end. I just found the greens really slow. I was a bit spooked.

“The putting green was really slow, beautiful condition, but it was slow, and my first putt today, I ran it about eight feet by and I was like, ‘Oh, they’re quick’. And then I’ve left seven putts, short in the jaws.”

For Harwood, who has decided this week at Richmond will be his last 54-hole event ahead of playing occasional one and two day Pro-Ams to “live happily ever after” it was an impressive bogey free day as the wind picked up for the afternoon field.

The Victorian’s 6-under 63 powered by his straight driving.

“I didn’t miss a fairway and I played good. Just only hit one bad shot. Bit of a surprise but happy,” Harwood said.

“This is my last three round event, so I was pretty keen to play well in it.”

Always likely to play well here, Lonard’s new short game improvement he spoke of pre-tournament didn’t show up at first but was part of a tidy 5-under 64 that included an eagle at the par-5 15^th.

“Kind of … the first chip and putt I had did was the worst chip I’ve ever seen, which is the way it works I suppose. But outside of that it was pretty good,” Lonard said of his short game.

“Nice little 5-under, actually played pretty good. Probably left a few out there, but I played okay without going crazy. But 5-under is always a nice way to start.”

Catching fire in the middle of his round, Canberra’s Welsford missed a makeable chance on the par-3 eighth, before he capitalised at the next following another good short iron and got on a run that saw him tied for the lead through 15 holes, before he admitted “the neck tightened” and he bogeyed 16 and 17.

Making his over-50s debut at this event last year, before heading to Champions Tour qualifying school and keeping his card, Bransdon’s experience of playing alongside major winners has given him an extra edge he is looking to use this week.

“It’s been a bit whirlwind from this time last year,” Bransdon, who has lost weight thanks to a Keto diet and cutting out bread, said.

“I hadn’t been to Q School yet for Champions Tour, I was just sort of finding my feet with the senior golf and I played okay here and I played good in a bunch of the good stuff in the Pro-Ams.

“But it all led to Q School in a matter of weeks and then getting through and keeping my card basically.

“It is confidence. That’s what it gives me. I can compete with the best guys over-50 in the world, so if that means I’m one of the favourites here, I’m more than comfortable with that.”

Rather than worrying about favouritism, or the potential spot at the BMW Australian PGA Championship in two weeks via a new category like Bransdon, Fearns is keeping his eye firmly on what is in front of him.

“Tomorrow I’ll try and do exactly what I did today … one shot at a time.”

Rounds two and three of the Nova Employment Australia PGA Senior Championship will be broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports and Kayo.