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Former world No.1 Adam Scott is the leading Australian after the first round of the US Open at Brookline Country Club in Massachusetts.
Veteran Adam Scott is the leading Australian as little-known qualifier Todd Sinnott also upstaged Cameron Smith in the first round of the US Open in Massachusetts.
Smith was the big Aussie hope entering the season's third major but the world No.6 had to settle for an opening two-over-par 72 to trail Canadian leader Adam Hadwin by six shots.
Playing in the morning wave in his 21st consecutive US Open, Scott carded a solid one-under 69 to be three strokes off the pace in a tie for 14th.
The former world No.1 and 2013 Masters champion, still hunting a follow-up major triumph at the age of 41, had only one blemish - a bogey on the par-3 sixth.
He finished with a flourish with a birdie on the last hole to edge out Marc Leishman as the leading Australian after a typically gruelling opening round at Brookline Country Club.
Leishman posted an even-par 70, one better than Sinnott.
A winner of the TPC Victoria in February, 30-year-old Sinnott only made the Open field through sectional qualifying in Japan.
But he made the most of his major championship debut, with two front-nine birdies at one point vaultng the world No.439 into red figures.
Smith mixed four bogeys with two birdies in his round of 72 that left The Players champion in a tie for 57th and work to do to make the halfway cut.
Two weeks after his sister Minjee won the US Women's Open, Min Woo Lee made a promising start to be one under par through five holes but four bogeys left the Open rookie also playing catch-up following a round of 73.
Lucas Herbert was travelling okay until a disastrous triple-bogey at the last soured his round of 74.
Jed Morgan's major championship debut was a forgettable one, with the reigning Australian PGA champion racking up a horror 12-over-par 82.
Morgan's birdie-free round featured seven bogeys, one double and a triple.
Hadwin seized the first-round lead thanks to a blitz of five birdies in six holes between the fourth and ninth holes.
On a cosmopolitan leaderboard, the Presidents Cup star has a one-stroke advantage over Northern Ireland's pre-tournament favourite Rory McIlroy, American Joel Dahmen, England's Callum Tarren, Swede David Lingmerth and South African MJ Daffue.
