Lucas Herbert predicted the new, short 17th hole at Royal Liverpool could cause "carnage" - and he was proved absolutely correct as a horror visit there cost the Australian the chance to be early clubhouse leader at the British Open.

The 27-year-old Victorian was faring well on the opening morning at Hoylake, taking advantage of kind early conditions to be joint leader at three under as he approached the penultimate hole.

But the 17th, a hole created to prompt late drama at the Open, ruined Herbert's round as he became its first victim, having to trudge away with a triple-bogey six that dragged him back to level par.

And it was just as he had predicted the previous day, when he had suggested it could be a card-destroyer.

"Well, I told you and I predicted it for you," said Herbert, who was still able to raise a smile after his level-par round.

"I think it's a great hole. There's no wind. It's a gap wedge and you can make a two pretty easily, but when that wind gets going, you can't really feel it too much on the tee and it becomes a really tricky shot."

Herbert missed his tee shot at the 136-yard tiddler to the left of the green, but with its downhill lie, hit a heavy chip that rolled on agonisingly before plunging into one of the merciless pot bunkers lining the green.

With an awkward stance, one leg out of the bunker and one in, he failed to extricate the ball first time, got it on the green at the second and missed his bogey putt.

"I felt like there was about 5000 professional golfers sitting around us in the stands watching it! But it's just not easy," sighed Herbert.

"I felt like if I had have hit it just a fraction harder I could have been back in the bunker on the other side. It was just a really tough shot. Just didn't come out the way I wanted it to and it rolled back in.

"I could have hit a poor different shot and made a bogey there and got away with one, but I made a triple. Doesn't make lunch taste any better," he admitted.

But he was more buoyed by the fact he'd played such excellent golf up until that point, having birdied three of the first nine holes as well as eagling the par-five 15th with a 28-foot putt.

"I've shot level par, should be top-20 at the end of the day. I'm not mad," he said, although he actually ended in a tie for 32nd.

"It's just the way golf goes sometimes. It sucks that it happened when it did, but hopefully I get the luck on 17 the next three days."

And as for the fact he'd been, briefly at least, the co-leader at the Open?

"I knew I was leading, but 16 holes into the first round and we're the third group out. Who cares?

"It's nice to write a story, but there's guys that haven't woken up yet. There's so much golf to play. Leading through any point of my round today doesn't mean a hell of a lot."