No one did better than Romain Langasque on the most famous course of all.

The 27-year-old Frenchman tied the course record on the Old Course at St Andrews by shooting 11-under 61 in the first round on Thursday.

It included a second-nine 28 that contained five birdies and an eagle on his final six holes at the home of golf.

"I never thought I would have the course record at St Andrews," the No.272-ranked Langasque said. "But now my name is on the board."

It was a career-low round for Langasque – his previous best on the DP World Tour was a 63 – giving him a one-stroke lead from his compatriot, Frederic Lacroix.

Geoff Ogilvy is the lowest Aussie in Scotland sharing 11th. PHOTO: Jan Kruger/Getty Images.

Tougher tests are around the corner, though.

Friday's forecast is for heavy rain and strong winds, which will be a severe examination for the 168 players in the field who must play each of St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie across the first three days. The fourth and final round takes place at St Andrews.

There will be a shotgun start at 8:30am (5.30pm AEST) on Friday in an effort to avoid the worst of the weather.

Rory McIlroy is among those bracing himself after shooting a four-under 68 at Carnoustie, widely regarded as the toughest of the three courses.

"Overall, you're not going to get Carnoustie in easier conditions, so I feel like I left a few shots out there," said McIlroy, who bogeyed his final hole.

"You don't want to be chasing going into what looks like really bad weather tomorrow so at least I put a red number on the board and have a few shots to play with."

"I never thought I would have the course record at St Andrews. But now my name is on the board." - Romain Langasque.

McIlroy will be playing his second round at Kingsbarns, which he believes is the easiest of the three courses to play in good weather and the hardest in bad weather.

Most of the best scores came at St Andrews and Kingsbarns, where Lacroix shot a bogey-free 10-under 62 to move into second place.

In a strong first-round showing from French players, Antoine Rozner shot 63 at St Andrews and was tied for third place with Denmark's Niklas Norgaard Moller, whose nine-under round came at Kingsbarns.

Spain's Nacho Elvira and Sweden's Kristoffer Broberg also began at Kingsbarns and shot 64.

Meanwhile, after his role as a non-playing assistant captain at last week’s President Cup, Geoff Ogilvy (had the best round among a large Australian contingent with a 66 at Kingsbarns.

Also in the field are Maverick Antcliff (68), Josh Armstrong, Nathan Barbieri, David Micheluzzi (all 69), Louis Dobbelaar, Daniel Gale, Blake Windred (all 70), Jediah Morgan, Zach Murray, Jordan Zunic (all 71), Austin Bautista (72), Aaron Pike (73) and Scott Hend (75).