Dale Clarke (igolf) has fired a -3 under par 69 to be at the top of the field early in the first day of the New Zealand PGA Championship, held at Clearwater today.

The new igolf convert hit the first shot of the event and got out of the blocks early with birdies on 5, 10 to be -2 after the turn, then bogeys on 11 and 13 mixed with 3 more birdies sees him up there in the afternoon of the first round.

Hamish Robertson also played well to start the event, with a -2 under par 70. Hamish was -3 with no bogies until he bogied 8 then parred 9 to finish at -2.

Dean Spison also shot -2, having made 6 birdies mixed with a double and 2 bogies.

Early pace setter Brian Smock had it to -6 and had a 3 shot lead before making a quad on the home hole to finish at -2.

All igolf players that have finished their first round are:

Dale Clarke 69 -3

Hamish Robertson 70 – 2

Dean Sipson 70 -2

Jordan Dasler 71 -1

Mike Hendry 72 even

Dominic Barson 72 even

Alex Tait 73 +1

Brad Shilton 78 +6

For live scoring for the event click here