Located near Pattaya, Thailand the layout yielded more birdies than might have been expected on day one, with the New South Wales player one of those to take advantage of fairly benign morning conditions, while the other fancied Aussie chance struggled in the afternoon.

Off the 10th tee in the second group of the day, Bennett made birdies at the 12th and 13th and offset her lone bogey at the par-4 17th with a birdie at the par-5 18th following an excellent chip.

Tasked with playing the more difficult front nine as her second, Bennett made it look easy with three birdies and the rest pars to sign for a five-under 67 to sit in joint second place with Thai hope Natthakritta Vongtaveelap. The pair one shot behind solo leader Liyana Durisic of Malaysia and one in front of Korea's Jiyoo Lim.

“It was pretty good. Pretty happy with it, just did my processes, and it worked out,” Bennett said.

Perth's Maddison Hinson-Tolchard was in the first group out on Thursday and finished level par. PHOTO: Graham Uden/R&A/R&A via Getty Images.

The 22-year-old’s round could have been ever better, but her short birdie putt at the 9th had a little too much mustard on it. Something that didn’t worry Bennett as she looked to take advantage of the early-late side of the draw in the Thai heat.

“Probably go in the pool, just chill, do nothing really,” she said of her afternoon plans as roommate Kirsten Rudgeley was out in the hottest part of the day.

It was a similar story for most of the other four Aussies out early, with Justice Bosio, the 18-year-old from Queensland very happy to relax after an opening round of two-under 70 in arguably the biggest start of her young career.

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“Really good side of the draw … I am going to go have a cold shower and lay in the air con,” Bosio, who is T11, told this publication of how she planned to recover. “Really good. First time here, so I was pretty nervous on the 1st hole, but managed to calm the nerves with a birdie, which was good.”

“It was pretty good. Pretty happy with it, just did my processes, and it worked out." - Kelsey Bennett.

It was also an impressive debut for 15-year-old Sarah Hammett, one of the youngest players in the field.

Mixing three birdies with two bogeys, the Gold Coast product signed for a one-under 71 to be in a share of 17th.

“They weren’t actually too bad,” Hammett said of her nerves. "I think coming into to today I was a bit nervous, but on the 1st tee just felt a bit relaxed and was ready to go.

It was a struggle on day one for Kirsten Rudgeley, who has her work cut out for her if she is to make the weekend. PHOTO: David Paul Morris/R&A/R&A via Getty Images.

“It’s really good to know that my game against some of these older and well-known people compares up against them.”

Also happy with her start was Oklahoma State University player Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, who was the first of the Australian contingent out on Thursday and sits at level par.

“It was solid, just couldn’t really get anything rolling in but I was not leaving myself any struggles out there, so I mean solid start, can’t complain,” the 20-year-old said.

“I gave myself some opportunities but probably just not close enough, hopefully tomorrow take advantage of them. Would have liked one or two shots better, but I am still not complaining.”

Sitting in a share of 52nd, South Australian Caitlin Pierce had one of the more interesting scorecards of the day.

Opening with a streak of 6-2-5-4-3, Pierce must have been hoping to just make some pars, which the Karrie Webb Scholarship winner did before closing birdie-bogey-bogey-par-double bogey-birdie to record a two-over 74.

Rounding out the Aussies was many people’s pre-tournament favourite Rudgeley with a 75.

After bouncing back from two early bogeys with two birdies on the front nine, Rudgeley approached the difficult closing three hole stretch at level par. A trio of bogeys disappointing the West Australian who headed straight for the driving range with one of the Australian coaches on site this week, Dean Kinney, to sort out her game as she attempts to get back inside the top-50 and ties that make the weekend.