Lawson was out at 7am on Wednesday in the pro-am before the tournament proper starts Thursday, and having barely tested his new Callaway Apex MB irons, shot golf’s magical number, 59.

Given the pro-am format, the score is not official, but that doesn’t worry Lawson.

“For me I do. It's nice to do it,” Lawson said when asked if he counts the score on his record. “If I shot it in the tournament I would feel really, really good about it but because it's the pro-am, the sponsors day, it's a bit of fun.”

The score was 12-under, besting his previous lowest of 11-under and perhaps most interestingly came after some very rudimentary testing of his new clubs.

“I hit 30 balls on the range yesterday afternoon and then played nine holes with them yesterday afternoon,” he said of the clubs.

"Today was the first round with them. My coach has said for a while that I should go to that style, more of a blade, but I like a bit of forgiveness. He's said that I'm now at a point where I don't mis-hit too many shots.

“When I wanted to hit a draw or a fade or just flight it, when I hit it came out exactly how I wanted.

"Whereas, the other ones, every now and then maybe come out a little hot, especially out of rough.

"I've had one round with them and they went really good so I'm pretty happy with them. But tomorrow's a new day and conditions are different, the pins are different.”

Lawson’s sentiments are also reflected in his potential prize if he continues to light up the Bonnie Doon layout. Winning a coffee from a friend and a bottle of wine, Lawson will instead attempt to take the lion’s share of the $250,000 prize money against the likes of Grace Kim, Jarryd Felton, Sarah Jane Smith and David Micheluzzi in the mixed gender format.