MELBOURNE, December 15, 2011 (AFP) - England's Ian Poulter, determined to pick up valuable end-of-season world ranking points, upstaged world number one Luke Donald at the Australian Masters at Victoria Golf Club on Thursday.
Resplendent in matching purple outfit and purple shoes, Poulter carded a six-under-par 65 in perfect conditions around the tight, tree-lined, 6,297-metre layout in Melbourne's famous sandbelt.
His only blemish was a three-putt bogey on the second, a 392-metre par-four.
Poulter finished four strokes clear of countryman Donald (69), and led local golfer Ashley Hall by a shot.
Poulter said he knew he had to get a wriggle on when he looked at the early scoreboard and noticed Hall was eight-under after 10 holes.
The world No.28 said he was in Australia to improve his ranking in what will be his last tournament for the year.
The presence of Donald in the field makes a good performance this week worth plenty of ranking points.
"I set myself to try and win every week, but obviously that doesn't happen," Poulter said.
"I am fully aware and I understand the world ranking points system... That's how most guys get paid nowadays is where they finish on the world rankings, so I'm fully aware of that and I'm fully aware it is my last tournament of the year. So I need to play well," he said.
Poulter said it was enjoyable to play well around a golf course that he has not played before.
"I guess I'm kind of finding my way around the golf course, and I guess I have done it pretty well today," he said.
"The only mistake I made today was a three-putt from about 20 feet on my second hole, the 11th. So that's probably the only frustrating thing. I hit a lot of good golf shots.
"I missed a couple of greens in the wrong spots, but managed to make a couple of great up and downs so I am pretty happy with six-under par."
Poulter said the key to the Victoria course was to position the ball well off the tee.
"It is positional play. You don't have to hit driver on every tee shot, which is very refreshing. It's so nice to come to a good golf course, where you can hit lots of irons off tees.
"Then obviously the second shot, it is crucial that your distance control is spot on. So I got that bit of my game right and I holed a couple of nice putts."
Donald, who created history this year by becoming the first golfer to top the money lists on both the US and European PGA tours, remained upbeat after Thursday's round.
"It was a perfect day for scoring. I hit it quite well on the back nine (his front nine as he played the course) and just made no putts.
"On the front nine I did not hit it quite as well. But two birdies, no bogeys -- it could have been a lot worse. It could have been a little bit better," he said.
"It's something to build off. I did not strike it that great. I missed some opportunities on the greens and the birdies stayed away."
Donald said Victoria was one of the best courses he had played, adding that it reminded him of Cypress Point in the United States.
First round scores from the Australian Masters at the par-71, 6297-metre Victoria Golf Club course in Melbourne on Thursday (Australian unless stated):
65 - Ian Poulter (ENG)
66 - Ashley Hall
67 - Mahal Pearce (NZL), Peter Lonard, Matthew Griffin, Kieran Pratt, Jarrod Lyle, Matthew Giles
68 - Rod Pampling, Richard Green
69 - Gareth Paddison (NZL), Phil Tataurangi (NZL), Luke Donald (ENG), Gavin Coles, Brendan Jones, Greg Chalmers, Nathan Green, Peter Senior, James Nitties, Matt Stieger
70 - David Smail (NZL), Steven Bowditch, Luke Hickmott, Leigh McKechnie, Marcus Fraser, Stuart Appleby, Kurt Barnes, Jeff Maggert (USA), Cameron Percy, John Senden, Rohan Blizard
71 - Steve Jones, Brad Kennedy, Brent McCullough, Michael Hendry (NZL), Geoff Ogilvy, Brett Rumford, Neven Basic, Peter Fowler, Doug R Holloway (NZL), Peter Tomasulo (USA).
Selected scores:
72 - Michael Campbell (NZL)
73 - Will Strickler (USA), Robert Allenby
74 - Byron Meth (USA)
76 - Matteo Manassero (ITA)