Jason Day made a spectacular return to the Australian Open on Thursday, finishing the first round three shots off the lead as defending champion Jordan Spieth struggled in tricky conditions.

Day, playing his national open for the first time in four years, made the most of his early morning tee time, rolling in eight birdies in perfect sunshine for a superb round of five-under-par 66.

The former world No. 1 finished the opening day tied for third place with Nick Cullen and Alex Edge, as Cameron Davis set the pace with a blistering round of 63 to lead by two strokes from Taylor Macdonald at The Australian Golf Club.

Spieth, playing in the afternoon when the wind had picked up, battled his way to an up-and-down round of one-under-par 70 to end the day seven shots off the pace on a heavily congested leaderboard.

Unable to build any momentum after making bogey at his first two holes, the American dropped three more shots but brightened up his card with six birdies, including a 20-foot putt at the final hole that fell into the cup.

Playing the back nine first, Day dropped a shot at the par-three 15th hole when he drove into the trees, then double-bogeyed the eighth hole, his second last.

Davis, also playing in the morning, birdied six of his first seven holes before the wind gusts put a halt to his phenomenal start and he eventually signed for a 63, enough to grab a two-stroke lead over Macdonald, ranked 1,809th in the world.

New Zealand's Brad Shilton made the best start of any player on the day, making a hole-in-one on his second hole to win himself a A$16,000 wrist watch. But his luck quickly ran out as he made four bogeys and three double bogeys in a round of 78.

Fitzpatrick thrives, Garcia

falters in Hong Kong Open

England's rising star Matthew Fitzpatrick enjoyed a fine start to the new European Tour Thursday, firing a four-under par round as Sergio Garcia struggled in testing conditions at the Hong Kong Open.

Playing in a group with compatriot Tommy Fleetwood and defending champion Sam Brazel, Fitzpatrick hit six birdies to finish with a 66 on the par-70 course, putting him in second place one stroke off the first-round lead.

Olympic champion Justin Rose had predicted following the previous day's pro-am warm-up competition that four-under would be a good score given the course's rapid greens and swirling winds, and he duly finished two-under.

India's SSP Chawrasia was the overnight leader after shooting the day's only 65. The majority of the competitors failed to make par.

Masters champion Sergio Garcia struggled to find form, starting his round with a bogey and hitting a double-bogey on 10 after his ball rolled back into a creek.

It was a volatile round for the Spaniard throughout, also finding trees on the 18th — although he delighted the crowd by following a fluffed chip on hole eight with a second attempt which rolled straight on to the green and up into the hole. Garcia finished one under par.

Fleetwood finished the opening round of his European Tour defense at two-under, with a pin-point birdie at the final hole to keep the pressure on the early pacesetters.

Just four days after he lifted the Race to Dubai title at the end of a grueling tour season, Fleetwood showed no signs of burnout as he hit an iron shot from 106 yards to within inches of the hole. — AFP