But look closely and you'll see the waves crashing and the flags whipping about.

Some wild winds come off the coast, as Marc Leishman discovered on Tuesday.

"They were very harsh," he said. "On Monday there was a storm so I couldn't even come to the course.

"(Yesterday) was still a bit windy but there wasn't any rain so it wasn't too bad."

The Warrnambool golfer will battle the wind today when he contests the first round of the 2009 Australian Open.

His aim is consistency, as he explained it was easy to get yourself into trouble at the course.

"If you miss a fairway on the wrong hole, you'll lose your ball," he said.

"I think there will be some huge scores racked up, I just hope it's not me.

"I haven't played for a while and I was a bit scratchy (on Tuesday) but (yesterday) I played fairly well.

"Hopefully I can play well come (today) and then get better each day.

"It would be awesome to have a chance to win it."

Leishman's last tournament was the Australian Masters last month, in which he finished tied for 57th.

It was his first event since returning from his debut year on the US PGA Tour.

"I'm better prepared than I was for the masters because I'm not flying in a couple of days before," he said.

"It's been a big year and it's starting to wind down.

"It's great just to be home and playing in home events without any pressure.

"I'm not feeling any pressure to play well, I just want to play well for myself."

The 26-year-old conceded there was more attention on him ahead of the open compared to the masters.

"I guess Tiger took a lot of the attention away at the masters, which was great," he said.

"Now I'm starting to do press conferences but I'm slowly getting used to it."

Leishman will tee off from the 10th hole at 7.40am today with fellow Australians Aaron Baddeley and Rod Pampling.

"The weather is going to have a lot to do with this tournament," he said. "The field which tees off in the morning might not have much wind while it might be blowing an absolute gale in the afternoon."

"You just don't know what will happen."

Australia's most prestigious golf event finishes Sunday.