Hamish Brown fired a course record-equalling nine under par 63 to hold a two-stroke lead after round one of the Hangzhou Open.
The Dane made seven birdies and an eagle on the day, while managing to stay bogey-free, to create a two-stroke advantage over four players, including Road to Mallorca number 16 Louis Albertse.
Brown, who has three runner-up finishes to his name in 2026, was pleased with how easy he found the opening day at Hangzhou West Lake Golf Club.
“It was nice and easy,” he said. “It’s very rare you have easy rounds but today was one of them and it was just an absolute pleasure.
“I just saw the shot and it always came out how I wanted it to so, yes, a great day.”
Starting on the back nine, Brown quickly got under par by making a birdie on the par five tenth, with another one following on the 12th.
The 27-year-old found back-to-back gains on the par three 16th and par five 17th to turn in 32 shots before continuing his charge on the front nine, finding two more birdies on par threes among others to make it three two’s on the day.
The cherry on top came in the form of an eagle on the par five eighth to reach the nine under mark, with Brown owing his fine start to a hot putter.
“I made a few long ones which was nice for once,” he added. “I just hit it to the right spots, didn’t really miss too much, and if I did hit a bad shot it wasn’t really that bad.
“I wouldn’t say anything was spectacular, I just made a few long ones which helps a lot.”
China is a stop on the Road to Mallorca that Brown has had previous success at, having won the 2024 Hainan Open on his way to promotion to the DP World Tour.
The Dane says he doesn’t know the secret behind his success in the East but is happy to take advantage of it.
“Maybe my body likes this time zone,” he said. "I just think we get to see some really cool places and it’s hard not to enjoy it.
“Hainan was really hot. This is a much better temperature for me, I definitely prefer this. It's just a nice place and that brings out nice golf apparently.”
Currently ranked eighth in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, a big week for Brown could see him all but guaranteed a DP World Tour card entering the Grand Final at the end of the month.
He admitted that this is on his mind, but not something he is trying to focus on this week.
“My approach this week isn’t different, but you can’t beat around the bush about it now.
“Everyone is wondering what they need, myself included, but I try not to think about it and take it one shot at a time.
“It worked today but it’s only Thursday morning, it’s always easier than it is on Sunday afternoon.”
Joining South African Albertse in a share of second at seven under is Denmark’s Kristian Hjort Bressum, Sweden’s Per Längfors and Jhared Hack from America. English duo Chris Wood and Frank Kennedy are a shot further back.
Round two begins on Friday at 6:30am local time, with Brown teeing off alongside France’s Maxence Giboudot and Australia’s Kuangyu Chen at 11:50am.
