Griffin off to flyer

Young Australian Matthew Griffin and South Korean Min-Kyu Han are making the most of good early conditions to lead the Australian PGA Championship on the opening morning at Coolum while Adam Scott has also made a fine start.

Griffin, who was the world's No.3-ranked amateur before turning professional 14 months ago, made light of predictions that the revamped course will make for tougher scoring by birdieing his first two holes and going out in 31 with a fifth birdie at the 12th taking him to five-under.

Han had actually been a couple of shots clear of the field at one point after starting from the 10th with four straight birdies and picking up six in his first eight holes but a couple of blemishes since have left him tied for the lead with Griffin.

Last-start Australian Open winner Scott is a shot back at minus three courtesy of a hat-trick of birdies in his first eight holes, two clear of defending champ Geoff Ogilvy and three ahead of Michael Sim, who are playing with the Queenslander in the first two rounds.

New Zealander Tim Wilkinson is also at three-under through 13 holes with 30 players in total in red figures, Jarrod Lyle and Greg Chalmers among those at minus two and Peter Senior and Kevin Stadler also at one-under with Ogilvy.

Chalmers' playing partners John Daly and James Nitties aren't faring as well, both at plus one nearing the turn along with 2006 champion Nick O'Hern and veteran Australian Terry Price.

Among the marquee groups to tee off in the afternoon are Marc Leishman, Mathew Goggin and Marcus Fraser at 12.25pm, with Nedbank Challenge winner Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby and Craig Parry to follow at 12.35pm.

The temperature has already hit 28 degrees on the way to an expected top of 31 and the northeast wind is starting to pick up and likely to make life tougher for the afternoon groups.