With a team total of even-par 216 for the best three scores, Australia is four strokes ahead of Argentina and New Zealand is a further three shots back, in third place.
Scoring was not easy at The Hills, with the front nine taking its toll on many scorecards.
Maverick Antcliff (Australia) and Haydn Porteous (South Africa) were the only players to beat par, albeit by a single stroke.
Brett Drewitt (Australia), Ryan Fox (New Zealand) and Jorge Fernandez Valdez (Argentina) finished with par 72 rounds while the Hills course accounted for the other 11 amateurs.
A one-hour frost delay seemed to take its toll on the New Zealand quartet, who had a game of two halves.
At the turn, Australia, Argentina and South Africa were within a single shot of each other, while New Zealand languished in last place, six shots off the pace.
In the leading group, Fox was the first to make amends with a birdie 3 at the 12th hole, after driving down the ninth fairway.
"I hit a 54-degree wedge to within a metre of the cup for my birdie, which kick-started my run on the homeward nine," he said.
"I was frustrated after the first nine hitting poor tee shots from the eighth and ninth tees, although I only dropped one shot."
Fox made a birdie 4 on the 13th and drove to within 10m of the 344m par 4 15th, only to chip in for an eagle two.
Ben Campbell also fired on the back nine with two birdies coming back from five over par to finish on 75.
Campbell hit the ball well throughout his round but found difficulty reading the greens and failed to covert many birdie opportunities.
New Zealand No 3 Mat Perry looked set for a solid round but three-putted the 16th green and made a double-bogey 7 on the 17th.
He made amends with a birdie 3 on the tough finishing hole for 76 to be the team's third counter, while Tapanui's Vaughan McCall finished on 77.
Jared Harvey (South Africa) made a dream start with an eagle 3 on the opening hole, only to sign for an incorrect score.
His disqualification cost his team which now lies in last place, two shots behind New Zealand.
The second round will start at 9am today and the cup continues during the weekend. The final round is on Sunday morning.
