Leishman, playing in his third golf major and first British Open, was one-over par for the championship in the closing stages of his final round.

He started the final round even but opened with a birdie three at the first to jump to one-under.

But bogeys on the difficult par-four fourth and sixth holes saw him slide to one-over before he rebounded with a birdie on the par-four ninth, completing the front nine in 36 shots, even with the card.

Leishman stumbled with a bogey at the par-three 11th but he steadied with par at the 12th, which left him tied for 54th, one-over for the round and the championship at the time of going to press.

The 26-year-old was guaranteed his best finish in a major, having failed to progress to the weekend in the US Masters and US Open earlier this year.

He made Friday’s half-way cut by one shot after a one-under-par 71.

He backed that up in tough conditions with an even-par 72 in Saturday’s third round.

Front-runners, including overnight leader, South African Louis Oosthuizen at 15-under par, were yet to tee off as the wind started to pick up.

Robert Allenby was the leading Australian at two-under, 13 shots off the pace.

Young Australian golf ace Jason Day made a spectacular birdie-birdie finish to complete his promising British Open debut in style.

Day was only the fourth player of the 150th anniversary Open to birdie the notorious Road Hole — which ranked as easily the toughest hole every day of the championship — and then also the 18th at the Old Course.

The 22-year-old’s blazing finale helped him card a final-round one-under-par 71 for a tournament total of three-over 291.

Day enhanced his status as Australian golf’s hottest prospect with an outstanding major debut around the testing links layout.

Day excelled despite only gaining inclusion last weekend.

He took Greg Norman’s place in the field.