The Corowa export was even after his first nine before firing three birdies on his last six holes to finish the day tied for fourth, two behind outright leader, South Korea’s Byeong Hun An, at five-under par.

“It was a good start, I chipped away at it most of the day,” Fraser said.

“I hit a couple of good shots into four and five and a good pitch shot on eight.

“I made a pretty good up and down over the back of the ninth which was a nice way to finish off.

“It was getting pretty breezy and starting to rain when I finished, so I’m pretty happy to be sitting in the clubhouse at three-under.

“They’re pretty severe slopes to these greens, so you’ve just got to make sure you keep hitting the right spots and don’t have too many tricky putts.

“I managed to do that today.”

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But Fraser admitted there was a moment of panic before his 6.55am tee time.

“I was pretty clever this morning, I set my alarm for 4.20, but unfortunately I set it for 4.20pm,” he laughed.

“I woke up luckily at about 10 to five, checked the phone and nearly jumped out of bed.”

Wodonga’s Zach Murray had a tough first round as a professional, finishing the day seven-over par.

After birdieing his second hole (the 11th), Murray’s round began to unravel with a double bogey at the 14^th, bogies at 15 and 16 and another double at the first to fall off the pace.

Yarrawonga’s Adam Burdett had bogeys on three of his first seven holes and eventually posted a three-over par 75 – leaving work to do to make the cut.