Lee carded an eagle, eight birdies and a lone bogey, which came at his opening hole (the 10th) at the Macau Golf and Country Club on Thursday.

The young Aussie – the highest-ranked player in the field at No.46 in the official world rankings – had a share of the first-round lead with Scotland's David Drysdale, who carded an impressive nine birdies and no bogeys in his round of 62.

New Zealander Ben Campbell was one of three players a shot behind the leaders after firing a bogey-free eight-under 63 in the opening round.

India's Ajeetesh Sandhu, joint second here in 2017 when the event was last played, also shot a 63, as did South Africa's Ian Snyman.

Lee was naturally delighted with his efforts on Thursday.

"(Hitting a) 62 anywhere is a really nice score," said the 25-year-old.

"Especially on a course like this – it was tricky, and the wind got up. It was really nice to really drive it well and capitalise on those drives."

Lee, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, played the first round alongside countryman Scott Hend (one-under 70) and Hong Kong's Taichi Kho (five-under 66), recent gold medallist in the Asian Games.