NSW professional Alex Edge birdied his final hole to head the Tasmanian Open men's leaderboard while South Australian amateur Matilda Miels is on top in the women's event after round one at Launceston Golf Club.

A regular on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia since 2016, Edge shot a 4-under-par 68 to lead Tasmania’s Scott Priest by a shot heading into the weekend, with Tim Hart (Qld) and Kyle Michel (Vic) sharing third at 2-under.

The leading amateur, Victorian Christopher Sayer, is part of a group of six players at 1-under, while defending champion Toby Walker is six back after a 74.

Edge’s opening round in the 54-hole adidas Pro-Am Series event featured five birdies with his only slip-up coming at the 330m par-4 16th.

"I was a pretty nice round to be fair. I kept it out of the strife all day pretty much," Edge said.

"It was enjoyable playing a course that wasn't crazy long and gave us a lot chances for up and downs for birdie.

"I hadn't been here for a couple of years. It's a nice old, style course that gives you the chance to be a bit creative and get wedge in hand pretty often."

In the all-amateur women’s Open, Matilda Miels turned in the only under-par round on day one, a 1-under 72, to grab a two-shot lead over Rebecca Zhao with Jorjah Bailey a further two shots back.

Miels, from Kooyonga in South Australia, picked up six birdies, including a sequence of three to start her day when she took advantage of the back-to-back par-5 10th and 11th holes and the short-par 12th.

”The course is short and the greens are running quick,” Miels said.

“It was good to hole a couple of putts out there today.

“I don’t mind coming to Tasmania. My boyfriend’s parents live here. so we’ve been back a few times this year.”

Zhao (NSW) staged a great fightback on the back nine, shooting a 3-under 34 after going out in 4-over 40.

The Men's and Women’s Tasmanian Opens are supported by the Tasmanian Government through Events Tasmania

Men's round one scores

Women's round one scores