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Precocious youngster Hannah Green is one solid round away from claiming the biggest win of her career after she surged into contention at the Australian Ladies Classic at Bonville.

The West Australian rebounded from a nightmare double-bogey start to reel off four birdies in a third-round two-under-par 70 in challenging conditions on Saturday.

At five under for the championship, Green sits one stroke behind Swedish frontrunner Madelene Sagstrom, who shot to the top of the leaderboard with a bogey-free 68.

Norwegian Marianne Skarpnord (69) shares equal second spot with Green and Spanish halfway leader Nuria Iturrios, who relinquished her four-stroke advantage with a 75.

A former Australian amateur star, 22-year-old Green won three times on the Symetra Tour in America in 2017 to secure her LPGA Tour card.

But she had no hesitation acknowledging that victory in this weekend's $350,000 Ladies European Tour event in Coffs Harbour would be the most significant of her career.

"It would be huge," Green told AAP.

"It's definitely going to be an important day for myself tomorrow - my first chance to win on home soil.

"But I'm trying to take it as easy as I can, just take every shot one at a time and hopefully the pressure doesn't affect me."

Green said she didn't look at a leaderboard until the 16th hole on Saturday.

"I won't do anything different to what I've been doing. I feel like I've been hitting the ball really well and giving myself a lot of opportunities," she said.

"I just haven't been able to capitalise and make some of the putts. So I'm hoping tomorrow is the day the putter gets hot because it hasn't been hot the last three days."

Green will play alongside Sagstrom and Skarpnord in Sunday's final group.

Sydney amateur Doey Choi will be in the penultimate group after returning an impressive even-par 72 to sit two shots behind the leader at four under.

Tiger Woods has delivered the shot that had the gallery buzzing but it was Dustin Johnson that produced the golf that left everyone chasing him at the WGC-Mexico Championship.

Johnson was so efficient at Chapultepec Golf Club on Friday that he putted for birdie on every hole, one of them from just on the fringe.

It added to a four-under 67 to lift him to 11 under and a two-shot lead over first-round leader Rory McIlroy and Matt Kuchar going into the weekend.

"Just hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens," Johnson said.

Woods started to figure out the course in his second full round and carded a 66 to leave him six shots off the pace.

His highlight was from a bunker right of the ninth fairway.

With a tree in his path, Woods sliced a 9-iron from about 130 yards that caught the left side of the green with so much spin that it zipped sideways at the pin and rolled 10 feet by.

He settled for a par.

"The ball was sitting down just enough where I didn't think I could clear that tree," Woods said.

"I ended up going back to the 9-iron and realised, 'Geez, I've really got to slice this thing'.

"So I opened up and gave it as much of a cut motion as I possibly could. And it worked out."

McIlroy (70) birdied his first two holes and quickly built a three-shot lead, only to be undone by a four-putt from the fringe at No.9 that slowed his momentum.

Kuchar, going for the Mexican double having won the Mayakoba Classic last fall, started with four straight birdies on his way to a 67.

But it was Tommy Fleetwood, who had the best start of the day.

He drove onto the green at the par-4 opening hole and made a 20-foot eagle putt.

He hit driver on the 384-yard second to about 40 yards from the green, picked his spot and knocked that in for a second straight eagle.

It was the first time a player started a round eagle-eagle on the PGA Tour since Sean O'Hair in 2009 at this WGC when it was at Doral.

He wound up with a 65 that catapulted him into a tie for fourth with Sergio Garcia (66) at seven under.

Cameron Smith is the best of the Australian contingent after his 67 took him to six under and a share of sixth.

Rickie Fowler had a 73, which included a triple bogey and a double bogey, one shank on the 10th hole that he couldn't imagine hitting and one resultant penalty that left him fuming about the new drop rules.

"I haven't heard many of the guys say that the drop from the knee has been a good thing, or that it looks good," he said.

Fowler said it was "terrible" new rule and expects it to be changed.

Spanish golfer Nuria Iturrios has established a four-shot halfway lead after taming brutal winds in the second round of the Australian Ladies Classic at Bonville.

Iturrios carded a superb five-under-par 67 in Friday's challenging conditions to take command of the tournament at eight-under overall.

The 23-year-old backed up a steady front nine that featured just a lone birdie with a sizzling four-under 33 coming home on the resort course.

Testament to the quality of her play, Iturrios was the only player to break 70 in the morning field and the only player in the tournament to remain bogey-free through 36 holes.

"I hit a lot of good shots," Iturrios said.

"After 36 holes with no bogeys, I'm feeling very good."

Four shots behind the Spaniard was first-round leader Doey Choi after the Sydney amateur overcame nerves and strengthening afternoon winds to sign for a two-over 74.

A bogey on 16 followed by a disastrous four-putt on the 17th brought Choi back to the chasing pack before a solid up and down on the last from the back bunker to save par meant she will enter the third round alongside Iturrios in the final group of the day.

West Australian Hannah Green is a further shot back in outright third at three under after an even-par 72 on Friday.

Ben Ikin's foray into top-level golf is over after two rounds of the Queensland PGA championship in Toowoomba.

The former Queensland rugby league five-eighth shot a 15-over round of 85 at the City Golf Club on Friday to finish his tournament last in the 156-strong field.

Combined with an 11-over first round 81 on Thursday, Ikin ended the tournament on 26-over overall - 27 shots behind the tournament cut of one-under par.

Though thankful for the opportunity to take part in the tournament, Ikin was unequivocal when asked if his golfing career would progress any further.

"That's it for me," the 42-year-old said.

"I'm just going to go back working with my coach and playing for fun.

"It was a bit of a bucket list ticked off to play in a professional tournament but I've got to be honest with you, the pressure I found myself under at different stages when things weren't going right, I know now and understand how mentally fine tuned you need to be to play four days of quality golf.

"Then you've got to go to another level after that to actually win the tournament.

"I don't think I'm up to that challenge."

Ikin began his second round with two double bogeys and two bogeys on the first four holes and then another bogey on the sixth.

He started the back nine with a birdie on the 10th but his game unravelled with a double bogey and then a quadruple bogey on the 12th and 13th.

Ikin said a building wind on the back nine had unsettled him.

"When the wind started blowing I started to behave like the pet dog, I went a bit mad," he said.

At the other end of the leaderboard, five birdies on the back nine by NSW pro Lincoln Tighe gave him a seven-under 63 to put him two shots clear of the field on 13-under in his first tournament since breaking a hand last year.

"I wasn't too sure how everything would hold up but it's been good so far," said Tighe.

"I was working in my dad's jewellery shop and I think that's why I might be playing so well because I don't want to go back there," he joked.

Queenslander Daniel Nisbet (63) is two shots behind Tighe in second-place heading into Saturday's third round.

Rory McIlroy has come within a whisker of a rare hole-in-one at a par-four on his way to the first-round lead at the WGC-Mexico Championship with an eight-under-par 63.

It was the Northern Irishman's best score in the first round of a World Golf Championships event and earned him a one-stroke lead over Dustin Johnson at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City.

Tiger Woods, in his first tournament appearance in Mexico, received a boxing announcer-like introduction at the first tee, bringing a broad smile to the 14-times major champion's face.

It promptly evaporated, however, when Woods hit his drive out-of-bounds.

His reload was almost as bad, though it stayed in play and he did well in the end to salvage a double-bogey on the way to a 71.

Phil Mickelson's title defence was left in tatters after he opened with a 79, leaving him 16 shots behind McIlroy.

The leader has not won in almost 12 months but has had top-five finishes in all three of his starts this year.

"Winning is a byproduct of doing all the little things well and I feel like I'm on a really good journey of doing that and I think it's a matter of time," he told reporters.

Best of the Australians, Cameron Smith, is six shots off the pace in a share of 11th place, while Jake McLeod was a shot further adrift.

McIlroy, who hit 17 greens in regulation, said he could hit his driver 370 yards in the rarefied air this week, more than 100 yards further than in the cold at sea level at Riviera last week.

"It's fun," he said. "I'm glad you don't have to do it every week but while we're here might as well make the most of it.

"I had three really good putting rounds at Riviera. I got a little bit of confidence and it was nice to see that carry on to this week as well."

His near ace came at the 305-yard par-four first, his 10th hole, where he hit a "cut two-iron" that landed softly on the front of the green.

His ball almost grazed the hole as it trickled past before settling six feet beyond and McIlroy converted the putt for an eagle two.

Andres Romero has shot a 6-under 66 in windy conditions to take the first-round lead in the PGA Tour's Puerto Rico Open.

Romero birdied three of his last five holes in a bogey-free round at Coco Beach Golf and Country Club on Thursday.

"I always like playing in the wind but of course it very tough for everyone," he said.

The 37-year-old Argentine won his lone PGA Tour titles in New Orleans in 2008 and has two European Tour victories.

"I have been playing well for a while," he said.

"I'm really happy with the round. Mainly it was my putting that was letting me down lately and today was very good, so it gives me a lot of confidence for the whole game."

Austria's Sepp Straka was a stroke back in the event that was cancelled last year because of Hurricane Maria.

"Putted really well. My irons were really the key today," he said.

"It was really windy out there, so I put the irons in the right spots, gave myself a lot of close looks. I hit it inside of 3 feet a couple times from outside of 100, so that's always nice. The irons were definitely the key."

Ben Crane was at 68 with Ollie Schniederjans, David Hearn, Roberto Castro, Martin Piller, Roberto Diaz, Joey Garber, Nate Lashley and Alex Kang.

Clemson senior Bryson Nimmer, making his first PGA Tour appearance, topped the group at 69.

Aaron Baddeley and Curtis Luck were best of the Australians, finishing a shot back and among a large group sharing 20th place.

Australian Minjee Lee was two shots off the pace as Lee Eun-Hee Ji of South Korea led the LPGA Thailand after a blistering opening round nine-under-par 63 on Thursday.

Ji won her fifth US LPGA Tour title in her previous event last month, the season-opening Tournament of Champions in Florida.

She picked up right where she left off, in Chonburi.

After an opening birdie and a bogey on the third hole, Ji birdied nine out of the following 14 holes on the Siam Country Club Pattaya's Old Course.

Lee shot a 65 and had a share of second along with Danielle Kang of the United States, and Jenny Shin of South Korea.

"I felt really great. I didn't miss any fairways and missed just two greens," Ji said. "I have a lot of confidence.

Lee was bogey free as she eagled the 15th and birdied five holes on a humid day.

"I was little bit slow starting out. I finished with three birdies on the last three holes at the front nine, and got a little bit better momentum," Lee said.

A group of four, three strokes off the lead, included Americans Jennifer Song and Lizette Salas, Canadian Brooke Henderson, and Australian Katherine Kirk.

World No.1 Ariya Jutanugarn, the 2013 runner-up, carded a 4 under 68, mixing an eagle and six birdies with two bogeys and a double bogey.

Ben Ikin hopes to deal better with "the sense of dread" on Friday after his foray into top-level golf went awry at the Queensland PGA Championship in Toowoomba.

The former Queensland five-eighth shot an 11-over round of 81 at the City Golf Club on Thursday, having won an invite as an amateur to tussle with the pros after whittling his handicap down from seven to 1.7 before Christmas.

Ikin bogeyed his first four holes and mixed two birdies with a triple bogey on his way home to sit outright last and 19 shots behind day one leader Ryan Lynch (eight-under).

He didn't let the round spoil his 42nd birthday though and hopes a slice of his childrens' home-made cake helps him handle the occasion better if he finds himself sliding further in the second round.

"I found it really difficult. I couldn't stop my heart from beating outside my chest for first five, six holes," he said.

"Every time I stood over a ball my heart was racing, mind was racing and it was hard to find a sense of calm ... but I'm really glad I took on the challenge."

Lynch started with an eagle and finished with a bogey as he led the charge in the late group with a sizzling 62.

Harrison Endycott and Ben Ferguson - both seven-under - set the morning pace with rounds of 63 to share second place with Nathan Green.

Sydney amateur Doey Choi has a two-stroke lead heading into the second round of the Australian Ladies Classic after a record-setting effort at the Bonville golf resort.

The reigning Queensland and South Australian amateur champion fired an impressive six-under 66 in tricky morning conditions on Thursday to top the leaderboard from Sweden's Madelene Sagstrom and Daniela Holmqvist.

Western Australians Hannah Green and Whitney Hillier are the leading Australian professionals at three-under in a share of fourth.

Local favourite Sarah Kemp, who played her way back onto the LPGA Tour with brilliant performances at both the Vic Open and Australian Women's Open in the past two weeks, opened with a 71.

Choi reeled off eight birdies en route a career-best 18-hole score, a round which surprised her following a struggle at last week's Australian Open in Adelaide.

"My confidence wasn't too high, I haven't been hitting it that great so it was nice to play some solid golf," she said.

Green, who started with back to back birdies but faltered late on the front nine, said the intermittent morning rain was annoying, though no excuse for her round.

"Towards the end of the first nine I struggled with the putter a little bit," she said.

"I just hit it on the wrong side of the pins and left myself in difficult spots to two putt from."

Jordan Spieth's long-time caddie Michael Greller has left the Mexico Championship after the death of his father.

The former sixth-grade maths teacher from the Seattle area and only caddie Spieth has had as a pro, learned that his dad, John Greller, had died on Tuesday night.

Spieth's father, Shawn, caddied nine holes of practice on Wednesday and will be on the bag the rest of the week at Chapultepec Golf Club.

Shawn Spieth only goes to a handful of tournaments outside the majors.

He wasn't planning to be in Mexico City this week until he decided to fly down from Dallas on Tuesday before Greller learned his father had died.