Korean Yubin Jang, who only turned professional last month, and Thailand’s Gunn Charoenkul are a shot from the lead, while American Andy Ogletree, Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai, Taehee Lee from Korea, Chinese-Taipei’s Lee Chieh-po and rookie Aussie pro Harrison Crowe returned 65s at the Hong Kong Golf Club.

Smith, 30, who won twice on the LIV Golf League this year to finish second on the rankings behind American Talor Gooch, last played in Hong Kong in 2014, the year after he turned professional, and tied for ninth – providing a snapshot of what was to come.

“It’s been a long time since I have been here. It’s probably been too long,” said the Queenslander, who played just the one season on the Asian Tour.

“Hong Kong is one of my favourite cities, the golf course speaks for itself, and the Asian Tour is on the up, and I love it.”

Smith made eight birdies and just the one bogey in his round. He opened with birdies on the first two holes, before making a late run for the lead with four-in-a-row from the 14th hole.

“Played really solid,” he said. “I was able to put in some good work the first few days while I was here. It worked out today.

“The course is very refreshing. It’s nice not having to slug your driver on every hole, and having to figure some stuff out. It was tricky out there today, a little gusty. It’s a cool track. It’s one of my favourites and hopefully we get no rain.”

Chacarra summed up just how well he is playing, saying: “I was in contention to win my last two LIV Golf events and I was in contention last week [Volvo China Open] and obviously I won St Andrews [the St Andrews Bay Championship on the Asian Tour in August].”

Cam Smith fires his approach into the 18th green at Hong Kong Golf Club. PHOTO: Asian Tour.

It was a real statement of intent from one of the game’s most exciting young golfers, as he went round bogey-free in his debut appearance in the Hong Kong Open, the penultimate leg of The International Series, with just the BNI Indonesian Masters to be played next week.

“Hard not to be happy with the round and seven under,” added the strapping 23-year-old, who was the halfway leader last week at the Hidden Grace Golf Club before surprisingly slipping back at the weekend to finish fourth.

“I think I have been playing well the last couple months and a half. The game has been there, especially since last week in China. I didn’t feel well after my round on Saturday, after dinner there, and didn’t have a great final day.”

He began on 11 and did not hold back making four birdies in his first five, before adding two more on his back nine.

He added: “This is a course I like a lot. It fits my eye pretty well and reminds me of the course I grew up on. I am excited for the week. It’s just getting better every day.

“It’s a great golf course, it’s tricky and you need to hit the fairways. It came into my eyes the first round I played it. I love it. Hopefully I can come back a lot of years, I am excited for what’s next.  Like my coach said you can lose a tournament in the first round, but you can’t win it. We have a long three days left. It’s a matter of keep getting better.”

Ogletree will wrap up The International Series Order of Merit (OOM) by making the cut this week, barring an unexpected turn of events, and take a step closer to claiming the Asian Tour Order of Merit, with four events remaining.

“I’m not too worried about making cuts,” said the winner of this year’s International Series events in Qatar and England.

“I’m trying to win a golf tournament and I’ve always said that good golf takes care of everything and that’s what I’m trying to do this week - just trying to focus on the short term and not what’s going on outside of this week. But it is obviously a great position to be in and I’m super thankful to have the lead on The International Series Order of Merit.”

He made nine birdies but also one double and two bogeys.

He added: “The golf course is in great shape, I think there’s a couple of spots on the fairways that are a little messed up due to the typhoons that they’ve had but they’ve done a really good job of getting it ready for play this week and I think the greens are some of the purest greens that we’ve played in a long time so you can definitely make a lot of birdies out there and I think the golf course is really good.”

Defending champion Wade Ormsby, playing just three days after his father’s funeral in Adelaide, shot an even par 70.