Leishman ready for wet and wild Birkdale

Marc Leishman plans to pack "only six" gloves for what looms as a wet and wild second round of the British Open at Royal Birkdale.

Leishman is one of five Australians, including fellow US PGA Tour stars Jason Day and Adam Scott, at one under par and just four shots off the pace after the first round.

With two top-five finishes in the past three years, including his playoff loss to American Zach Johnson at St Andrews in 2015, Leishman hopes to make up ground on the leaders on Friday and make another weekend charge.

But he knows that may not matter with rain forecast all day and winds of up to 65 km/h predicted.

"I don't know about a low one but hopefully I'll have a good one tomorrow," Leishman said after combating three bogeys with four birdies in his opener.

"I saw it was going to be pretty wet and windy as well so it's going to be important to be really patient because bad stuff's going to happen.

"You're going to make bogeys, and possibly doubles. Hopefully you don't make too many of them and just deal with the bad stuff as good as possible."

To do so, Leishman is intent on staying as dry as possible.

"I tested some wet-weather gloves on the range yesterday actually, just dumped them in a bucket of water and made sure they work alright," he said.

"So I've prepared that way. I've got some really good wet-weather gear -- good jackets and pants.

"I won't take too many gloves out there. I'll have maybe six in there, so you've just got to try and keep everything as dry as possible and hopefully it doesn't rain on us all day."

Leishman memorably fired weekend rounds of 64 and 66 two years ago before falling short in a three-man playoff.

"If I can have a good round tomorrow, get a bit closer, there's a lot of golf left," he said.

"You don't have to be too close after two rounds. I showed that at St Andrews.

"I'd like to be a bit closer than I was there but you don't really look at where the lead is too much."