Sebastian Garcia leads as lightning halts opening day at Australian PGA Championship

Making the most of his first start back since regaining his DP World Tour card, the Spaniard went bogey-free for the first 15 holes on Thursday at Royal Queensland.

Starting from the tenth, Garcia went out in an opening four-under par 31, starting his round with a birdie and adding further gains at the 12th, 15th and 18th holes to join the clubhouse leaders.

Making the turn with consecutive pars, he then moved ahead with a birdie at the fourth before back-to-back gains at the fifth and sixth holes gave him a two-stroke advantage before play was suspended.

Garcia, who was in one of the many groups unable to complete their rounds on Thursday, will resume his opening round at 6am AEST on Friday, with second-round tee times pushed back by 90 minutes.

He has just three holes left to play, while others will have to complete as many as 11 holes before getting their second rounds under way.

Behind him, Australian Daniel Gale sits in solo second and five-under-par through 12 holes, having produced the first ace of the new season at the par-three 11th.

Of those that did finish were home favourites Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott, who made it into the clubhouse on three under. But it was Scott's playing partner Ryan Fox that set the early clubhouse target at four under.

Fox, who hasn't played competitive golf anywhere since he finished tied 14th at the FedEx Open de France in September, also started from the tenth, making two birdies in his opening nine holes for a front-nine 33.

He bounced back from a dropped shot at the second hole (on his back nine) with back-to-back birdies from the fourth, parring his way in to set the target for the rest of the field.