The first round of The 146^th Open Championship started off as a wet and windy affair at Royal Birkdale before the Australasian contingent saw the course.

All 13 representatives teed off in the afternoon with mixed results at the conclusion of the opening 18 holes.

Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka set the pace early with rounds of 5-under 65, only former Fiji International Champion Matt Kuchar could match the pair in the afternoon to complete a three-way tie for the lead at the end of play.

Australians Aaron Baddeley, Jason Day, Adam Scott and Andrew Dodt are just four shots off the pace after rounds of 1-under 69.

“In the 60s, first round of a major is a good start. It could have been a couple better, sure, but you can’t really look at it like that,” Scott said of his start.

“I think it’s a good, solid start. Probably going to be tough tomorrow morning, so I’m going to have my work cut out for me. And if I can shoot a good score in the morning, hopefully I’m in good shape going into the weekend.”

The former Masters Champion said the four shot gap between himself and the leaders is not a daunting task to overcome given the three remaining rounds left to play.

“I mean, you want to be not too far behind, so we’ll see. There’s so much golf to play, four shots is nothing over 54.”

Day, who has been adamant about remaining patient with his game as he endeavors to recapture the World Number 1 ranking, said he started to see his hard work off the course begin to pay dividends during his round.

“Not all the way, but through the mid part of my round I felt great. I started seeing the shots come out exactly the way I wanted to,” Day said.

“And that’s really good things because I’ve been working very hard at home trying to make sure that what I see out there and how I hit it, it won’t come out perfect every single time, but during the middle part of my round I started gaining a lot of confidence.

“And obviously it helps hitting fairways, too. I feel good about my game, I’ve just got to be patient and let things unfold.”

Gatton product Dodt looked impressive as he rounded out his opening 18 with three straight birdies, entering round two with momentum on his side.

Major debutante Matthew Griffin looked as if nerves would get the better of him during his front-9 with bogey on the 2^nd 3^rd and 6^th holes, birdies on the 5^th and 8^th saw him +1 at the turn.

A faultless back-9 and birdie on the 17^th will no doubt give the Victorian confidence heading in to the second round.

Asian Tour star Scott Hend is 1-over the card thanks to a double on the par4 10^th, while New Zealander Michael Hendry has more ground to make up after a round of 3-over 73.

Hendry’s compatriot Ryan Fox and Queenslander Cameron Smith sit at 4-over the card while Adam Bland and Ashley Hall are 5-over, Ryan McCarthy had a tough opening round with 6-over.

To view the full leaderboard visit pga.org.au.

The Australasians will take to Royal Birkdale in the morning with Adam Bland the first off at 3:46pm AEST live on Fox Sports Australia.