Lincoln Tighe holds the first qualifying place for The 145^TH Open at Royal Troon after the first round of the Emirates Australian Open in Sydney today.

The 26-year-oldfrom Wolllongong produced a five-under-par round of 66 to take the first roundlead and hold the first of the three places available in golf’s oldestChampionship through The Open Qualifying Series.

The 2014New South Wales PGA Champion, who is currently going through Q-School for theWeb.com Tour, carded seven birdies and just two dropped shots in hot andblustery conditions at The Australian Golf Club. Tighe will make his MajorChampionship debut if he secures a place at Royal Troon this week.

"Thatwould be great (if I could qualify)," said Tighe. "I haven’t played a Majorbefore so it would be a great opportunity. I have just got to finish it off."

Tigheleads Sydney-born Matthew Jones by a shot and is two clear of fellow home hopeGeoff Ogilvy, who hold the other qualifying places respectively. The35-year-old Jones, who won the Shell Houston Open on the PGA TOUR in 2014, notchedup three birdies on the front nine on his way to a four-under-par 67. Jones isaiming to make his third consecutive appearance in The Open after finishingtied 30th at St Andrews this year.

FormerUS Open champion Ogilvy is bidding to return to The Open at Royal Troon afterfinishing tied 40th at St Andrews in July. The 38-year-old got off to a greatstart with four birdies in his first six holes, starting from the 10th hole,but undid the good work with a bogey and double bogey at the 17th and 18th.Ogilvy recovered with three birdies on his second nine before a dropped shot atthe last saw him finish with a three-under-par 68.

"Imissed The Open a few years ago and hated having to watch it on TV so it wouldbe great to get it done early," said Ogilvy. "If it’s not the biggest and bestChampionship in the world then I don’t know what is."

Ogilvytied on three-under-par with another Australian, Todd Sinnott, and ChineseTaipei amateur Chun-An Wu but holds the qualifying places thanks to his higher positionin the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).The 2015 EmiratesAustralian Open is the first event in The Open Qualifying Series and threeplayers who finish in the top ten and ties who are not already exempt, willearn places in The Open at Royal Troon, which will be played from 14-17 July2016.

TheOpen Qualifying Series (OQS) will offer the following qualification places inThe 145^TH Open:

NB: Any player who has qualified through The Open Qualifying Series is deemed an exempt player. In the event that that player subsequently fulfills other exemption categories those places in the starting field will be subject to Section F of The Open Entry Form.