The 15 strong Aussie contingent at St Andrews have made a strong start at The Open headlined by Jason Day.

The Queenslander has been one of Australia’s strongest performers in the Majors in recent years but the form required for Links golf and to contend at The Open has always eluded him.

Not so in his first round, Day fired a bogey free 6-under 66 to be tied second and just one shot behind leader Dustin Johnson.

This is the first time Day has shot a number in the 60’s in his four appearances at The Open where his best finish has been a T30 in 2011.

"I knew there was going to be a lot of eyes on me. I just wanted to make sure I played solid out there," Day told AAP after his round.

There were a lot of questions surrounding Day’s health heading into this week after his scary collapse at the US Open due to vertigo and the viral infection he has been fighting.

However Day put those circling questions to bed on Thursday.

"I feel good. I’m not thinking about falling over on my face again. It’s good," Day added.

"I’m not worrying about it."

Playing just his second Open Championship, Matt Jones left his mark on St Andrews shooting 4-under 68 to be tied 13^th after the first round.

Greg Chalmers, Steven Bowditch and Adam Scott all opened with 2-under the card which sets them up nicely heading into the second round.

"Under par was important for me today as far as the big scheme of this tournament goes," Scott told AAP.

"Because if I finish 5, 5, 4, all of a sudden I’m just grinding to even make the weekend tomorrow."

Scott has been Australia’s strongest performer at The Open the past three years with a memorable runner-up finish in 2012 and a further two top-5 finishes. Each year Scott also celebrates his birthday during Open week and is hoping to one day give himself the gift of the Claret Jug.

"I need to give myself a very special birthday gift one of these years. Otherwise it would be very disappointing," added Scott.

New South Welshman Scott Arnold was impressive in his Open debut shooting 1-under the card which could have been two shots better except for the 14^th hole presenting him with some troubles.

Brett Rumford also showed a lot of determination to score 1-under after opening with a bogey. The West Australian has played little golf in 2015 since having part of his small intestine removed in March.  

Geoff Ogilvy was firing early in his round, which included sinking an incredible 50m birdie putt on the par-5 5^th, but as the wind made the back 9 play harder he failed to hold on.

"I did what I need to do and went low early in the round but didn’t hang on as well as I could," Ogilvy told Fox Sports after dropping five shots in four holes coming home.

"You don’t have 50m putts very often, it’s kind of like an unpractised thing but I just looked at the hole, belted it in that direction and it went over the hill and disappeared into the hole, it was the longest putt ever I think."

John Senden was the last of the Aussies to shot an even par round or better. His two birdies on The Old Course were mitigated by two bogeys seeing him in the clubhouse with an even par 72.

Scott Hend and Marcus Fraser each finished at 2-over the card while Adam Bland was a further shot back again.

Rod Pampling and Scott Strange are the last of the Aussie contingent on The Open leaderboard, rounds of 5-over 77 having them in a tie for 146^th place and leaving them with plenty of work to do in the second round.

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