On a windy day on the Mornington Peninsula, Griffin’s 4-under-par 68 on the Open Course, one of two layouts in use over the first 36 holes, gave him a one-shot lead over a group of four players without a win on Tour – Bradley Kivimets, Wil Daibarra, Zach Iron and American Jaron Leasure.
The player to beat, however, remains fellow Victorian Marc Leishman who carded an even-par 72 on his first look at the Legends Course with his 13-year-old son Harvey playing alongside as his pro-am partner for the first time.
Teamed up with Melbourne Storm NRL premiership winner Ryan Papenhuyzen, Griffin’s trip around the Open Course included four birdies and an eagle on the par-5 13th hole where he chipped in from just in front of the green.
The 42-year-old, who would love to complete a career Vic Open-Vic PGA double, is coming off a missed cut at the Crown Australian Open and finishing well back at the BMW Australian PGA Championship, but said those two events had lifted his game heading into this week.
“What I’ve always found is when you play elite level tournaments that are, I guess, at that next level, and we’ve had those really strong fields the last two weeks, they tend to elevate your game,” Griffin said.
“It was really solid. I’ve been playing nicely, but today I kind of just put it together and didn’t have the mistakes that I probably let creep in the last few weeks.
“With that wind, the Open Course is a really stiff test so to shoot in the 60s there, I’m rapt.”
With his dad Paul on the bag, Leishman was threatening Griffin’s score when he made it to 2-under-par through 12 holes. But he bogeyed the 14th after a three putt and the 16th, where he needed two chips to find the par-3 green, to slide back to a tie for 21st after day one.
As a duo, the Leishmans sit in a share of 30th place in the field of 108 teams.
“Having not seen the course, honestly, there were a couple holes where I had no idea where I was going,” the 2008 Vic PGA champion said.
“Thank God for the pictures in the yardage books. But even-par, only four back at the moment, I’m disappointed that I didn’t have better, but I’m happy with the score still if that makes sense.”
The younger Leishman, with cousin Sam on the bag, impressed with three straight pars to open his first round in a competition with his dad.
“I’ve played a lot of golf with Harvey, but to have him out there with me when I was in a tournament and a few people around watching it was good. I think he learned a lot,” the elder Leishman said.
“He got off to a really good start and then struggled a bit coming in, but it’s all about learning for him.
“He short-sided himself a few too many times today. And when you miss a green in America, most of the time you just grab your lob wedge and he learned pretty quickly that doesn’t work around here.”
Among the 20 players who managed to break par on day one are PGA TOUR-bound Canadian Sudarshan Yellamaraju (71) and three-time Tour winner Jordan Zunic (71).
Defending champion Cory Crawford battled to a 77.
All the pro-am teams play 36 holes on Thursday and Friday before a cut is made to the top 25 teams for Saturday and then a further cut to the top eight teams after the third round.
The final two rounds will be broadcast live on Foxtel through Fox Sports 503 and Kayo Sports with coverage starting at 3pm AEDT Saturday and 1pm AEDT Sunday.
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