Australian Open First-Round Leader Tips: Picks from 45/1 to 80/1

• 80/181.00 Ben Eccles keeps getting off to flyers

• 45/146.00 Cristobal Del Solar has had a string of first-round leads

• 60/161.00 Matias Sanchez mixes local knowledge and fast starts

Weather forecast for Thursday

Two courses are used in round one - Kingston Heath and Victoria - and the Sportsbook has a separate market for each venue. Both are classic sandbelt layouts situated within a couple of miles of each other so the weather should feel the same at each.

That forecast shows modest temperatures in the early 70s but it suggests the calm morning conditions could give way to some 15mph gusts in the afternoon.

Tee-times run from 06.55 to 13.28 at both courses so I'd be looking to morning starters.

Ben Eccles @ 80/181.00

I must admit I winced last week when Elvis Smylie took the first-round lead at the Aussie PGA.

He was my fourth choice for FRL so just missed selection for the final three.

Still, Matt Cooper backed him for the outright win which landed at a very healthy 80/1 and Smylie did at least prove that a run of previous good starts can act as a great pointer in this market as the Aussie had day one form of 30-6-5-11-5 coming in.

So I'll again focus on those making strong starts of late and that leads me to Ben Eccles.

Born in the UK in Bolton, he's now very much a local and finished runner-up at the Victorian PGA Championship last November.

But it's his recent fast starts that put him in the crosshairs and his last four 18-hole positions read 6-18-6-5.

The latest came at last week's Aussie PGA where he finished 15th so Eccles is in good form and worth a punt at 80/1 at Kingston Heath where he has an early start at 07.44.

Cristobal Del Solar @ 45/146.00

Joaquin Niemann won this event last year and is favourite to defend this week.

But for this market I'll turn to a different Chilean - Cristobal Del Solar.

The 31-year-old opened with a 66 last week to sit second after day one and that franked his reputation as something of a Thursday specialist.

Between January 2023 and February 2024, Del Solar banked four first-round leads on the Korn Ferry Tour and, fairly remarkably, he's ended the opening lap inside the top 10 in 13 of his 25 worldwide starts in 2024.

He starts his week at Victoria GC where he has an early tee-time at 08.17.

Matias Sanchez @ 60/161.00

Finally, I'll have punt on Matias Sanchez who, despite the surname suggesting he could be another Chilean, is a Melbourne man who plays out of Royal Melbourne so knows a thing or two about sandbelt golf.

As well as being very familiar with the conditions, he jumps out given a fantastic record of first-round scoring.

Sanchez opened with a 66 last week to sit second on the day one leaderboard and that followed openers of 66 and 65 in his two recent starts at the NSW Open and Western Australian Open which put him sixth after 18 holes in both.

The 24-year-old gets his week underway at Victoria GC and I like him at 60/161.00 from his 08.34 tee-time.

Now read Matt Cooper's each-way column here!