Australians Karl Vilips, Jack Buchanan, Hayden Hopewell and Connor McKinney are in contention to advance to the match play rounds after the first stroke play round of the US Amateur at The Ridgewood Country Club and Arcola Country Club in New Jersey.

Vilips, Buchanan and Hopewell shot two-over on Monday to be tied for 52nd, while Australian Amateur champion McKinney sits a further shot back tied for 78th.

The Round of 64 is set after Tuesday's second stroke play round and the Australian quartet are well-placed to progress to the next stage.

Scoring has proven to be difficult at both venues - the five leaders sit at three-under and only 18 players broke par - with the USGA producing a course setup typical of US Opens with lighting fast greens and very thick rough.

Birdie opportunities are limited as a result, with par more often than not the desirable outcome, but the players' mantra has been to simply ensure they are in the top 64.

From then on, the crown is anyone's for the taking and history backs up that belief.

Since 2010, a higher percentage of players in the Round of 16 have come from those seeded No. 41 and above (24.5%) than from the top ten seeds (21.9%).

Harrison Crowe is the other Australian in the field and the NSW Open champion had a day to forget shooting six-over.

Round 2 tee times - Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th August AEST

• 9.21pm* (Ridgewood) Harrison Crowe, Patrick Gareiss, Justin Hastings

• 10.55pm* (Arcola) Jack Buchanan, Alex Scott, Adam Hooker

• 2.57am (Arcola) Connor McKinney, AJ Ewart, Andrew O'Leary

• 3.18am* (Arcola) Karl Vilips, Nicklas Staub, Conor McGrath

• 4.41am (Ridgewood) Hayden Hopewell, Richard Dowling III, Michael Crowley

Scoring