They both carded rounds of 6-under-par 64 in round one at Willunga Golf Course on the Fleurieu Peninsula on Thursday in the first of the mixed gender events for the 2026/27 season.

There is a four-way tie for third, with Darcy Brereton, American Chris Malec, Aaron Townsend and Jason Norris all recording 5-under-par rounds of 65.

Among the women in the co-sanctioned field, amateur Jazy Roberts leads the way in a share of fifth position at 3-under-par, while Kelly Zhao recorded the first hole-in-one of the event on the par-3 fifth hole, a perfect pitching wedge from 102 metres.

A two-time winner on Tour, 31-year-old Eccles was pleased with his strong start to the week at a course he has enjoyed in the past.

“The draw kind of was in our favour, first cab off the rank, and I wanted to make sure that I did everything that I could to give myself a chance to have a good score. Obviously, I was able to do that,” the Victorian said.

The 2023 CKB WA PGA champion has made a steady start to the new season in the back-to-back events in Western Australia, finishing T26 at the PGA in Kalgoorlie and T31 in the WA Open at Secret Harbour.

In both events, his opening round was clearly his best of the four days.

With a T5 in the memory bank from Willunga two years ago, he is quietly confident he can put himself into a position to challenge over the weekend.

“I've got a good relationship with this event. I've played well here in the past,” he said.

“I worked pretty hard in the off-season to get everything in order, and it's nice to see some rounds come together. But if I can put four days together, it'll definitely help.”

Likewise, Gale, who is chasing a fourth title on his home Tour and was runner-up at Kalgoorlie two weeks ago, was pleased with his opening round and is hoping to use his experience on the course to his advantage this week.

“My only blemish was on the third hole, just re-putted from about 45 feet there. But other than that, I sort of just plotted it around nicely, hit all the spots you need to,” the Sydney professional said.

“it's not an overly long golf course here. It's pretty tight.

“It’s my fourth year playing around here, so I’m trying to take all the learnings from previous years and just do all the right things. I got some putts to drop there at the end, which was nice.”

The 30-year-old backed up his Kalgoorlie performance with an equal eighth finish at Secret Harbour to be one of the favourites heading into this week.

“The form coming into this week has been pretty steady and solid, and I've had some good results over the last couple of weeks,” he said.

“Anytime you have good results, it sparks the confidence, so I feel like everything's sort of close to clicking.

“I've had rounds where three out of four things are clicking, but it feels like I'm piecing the puzzle together nicely.”

A total of 50 players finished under-par after the opening round.