DIFFICULT START FOR MCILROY IN MELBOURNE
World number two Rory McIlroy opened with a one-over 72 at the Crown Australian Open at Royal Melbourne. (Photo: Getty/DP World Tour)
Rory McIlroy had a difficult start to his Crown Australian Open campaign where renowned Sandbelt venue Royal Melbourne made things “very tricky” for the world number two as he opened with a one-over par 72.
The Grand Slam winner, who is headlining this week’s field Down Under, struggled to get to grips with the greens, which ultimately stalled any momentum. With a card containing five birdies but also six bogeys, it meant a rare over par round for the Holywood star.
With work to do, McIlroy finds himself seven shots off the first round lead held by Elvis Smylie, Ryan Fox and Carlos Ortiz, who share the lead two on six-under.
“I need to putt better. I can feel myself struggling on the greens a little bit Tuesday and Wednesday just to see reads, they're quite tricky to read in spots, so I struggled with the putting early on today. I holed some good ones. I think I was better from outside 25 feet than I was from inside five, so work on that a little bit,” said McIlroy, who was still able to soak up the great atmosphere at one of Australia’s most recognised and testing venues.
“I mean [we had] some crowds for seven o'clock in the morning. Yeah, it was great. It was a wonderful atmosphere to play in. Obviously playing with Adam (Scott) and Min Woo (Lee) too. Yeah, it was unbelievable. It was really cool to see how many people were lining the fairways and framing the greens and stuff, so yeah, it was cool.
“I think the welcome has been so warm and yeah, it's been a pleasure to be here and hopefully I could just play a little bit better over the next three days.
Smylie, Fox and Ortiz share the lead after opening 65s. There has been much excitement the national open making a return to one of the world’s most revered layouts for the first time in 34 years, but it was the weather rather than the Composite Course that stole the show in round one.
The leading trio handled the challenge best to lead from Cameron Adam, Clement Charmasson and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, who all carded 67s.
Smylie, a winner on home soil during last season’s Opening Swing at the BMW Australian PGA Championship overcame an opening bogey with seven birdies and he was the man to set the early target.
“It was really solid round. As you can probably hear, the wind is a big factor today. I felt like I did a good job at using my creativity and my imagination with flighting a lot of really nice shots and then always making sure I’m leaving it on the right side of the hole,” said Smylie.
“I’ve played around Royal Melbourne a lot of times before, especially in this northerly breeze, which is quite a tricky breeze to play in, I felt like I navigated it quite well.
“I think it’s probably one of the best crowds I’ve played in my career so far. I’m loving the support that the Melbourne crowd has brought us out for. Having Rory back here is great as well, and I think it just brings a great vibe to the tournament as well.”
Kiwi Fox then made eight birdies to join him at the summit before Mexico’s Ortiz eagled the 17th to catapult himself to the top of the leaderboard.
“I would've taken even par today,” quipped Fox after his round. “This golf course is tricky enough. There's obviously a lot of trouble, especially with all the crosswinds. It's pretty wide off the tee for the most part, if you hit the right club, but with all the cross winds, you can get yourself in a lot of trouble.
“I've been playing really nicely at home and I've had two months off…Coming out to a golf course like this that I've played before, I've got good memories of, I absolutely love the challenge of trying to play it, and it was nice to go out and hit some good shots and get excited about playing one of the most brilliant golf courses in the world.”
Ortiz said: “You had to respect the golf course, and I think I did a great job on that. With Mikey we planned it around, we just tried to put it in play, be smart, hit greens, and we were lucky enough to make some good putts.
McIlroy was in the marquee group alongside home favourites Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee, who both opened with two-under 69s.
ROUND ONE SCORES
65 R FOX (NZL), C ORTIZ (MEX), E SMYLIE (AUS),
67 R NEERGAARD-PETERSEN (DEN), C CHARMASSON (FRA), C ADAM (SCO),
68 D HILLIER (NZL), S LEANEY (AUS), W ORMSBY (AUS), E PEPPERELL (ENG), C LAMB (AUS),
69 J BALLESTER (ESP), C DAVIS (AUS), R CABRERA BELLO (ESP), D RODRIGUES (POR), S MAZZOLI (ITA), J MORRISON (ENG), B FOLLETT-SMITH (ZIM), M HOLLICK (RSA), A SCOTT (AUS), M LEE (AUS), R GREEN (AUS), C LUCK (AUS), S MUNOZ (COL), J SENDEN (AUS),
70 J MCLEOD (AUS), M MCCARTY (USA), S CROCKER (USA), S KIM (KOR), J MORGAN (AUS), A ANCER (MEX), H TAKIS (AM) (AUS), B WIESBERGER (AUT), J BUCHANAN (AUS), R WILLIAMS (RSA), C SMITH (AUS), M LEISHMAN (AUS), C SURRATT (USA), J MARCHESANI (AUS), H LOGAN (USA), B HENKEL (AUS),
71 B JONES (AUS), K APHIBARNRAT (THA), W DING (CHN), R HISATSUNE (JPN), J HALLS (AM) (AUS), R REPETTO TAYLOR (ESP), G OGILVY (AUS), B PROVERBS (AUS), D BRYANT (USA), N VOKE (NZL), Q VIDAL (ESP), J BERRY (ENG), B RUMFORD (AUS), G DE LEO (ITA), S KAEWKANJANA (THA),
72 J SENIOR (ENG), K SATO (AM) (JPN), R LANGASQUE (FRA), S GARCIA (ESP), C JOHN (AUS), K MOUNTCASTLE (NZL), M GRIFFIN (AUS), J ZHENG (NZL), N BARBIERI (AUS), A BAUTISTA (AUS), R MCILROY (NIR), A SIMPSON (AUS), R CAMPOS (PUR), N KIMSEY (ENG), U COUSSAUD (FRA), H BARRON (AUS), D YOUNG (SCO), T HODGE (NZL), W FLORIMO (AUS),
73 J SCRIVENER (AUS), R PARATORE (ITA), J NIEMANN (CHI), N COLSAERTS (BEL), D LAW (SCO), B ECCLES (AUS), G CHALMERS (AUS), S ALLAN (AUS), D GALE (AUS), S SHARMA (IND), T VAILLANT (FRA), T JONSSON (SWE), L BARKER (AUS), J MUNRO (AUS), B WATT (AUS), O MARSH (AM) (AUS), J CARTER (AUS), R PEAKE (AUS), A ARNAUS (ESP), C HOFFMAN (USA), D MICHELUZZI (AUS), J GUMBERG (USA), J THOMPSON (AUS), A JOHNSTON (ENG), J GEARY (NZL), C MCKINNEY (AUS), Q CROKER (AUS), A CAMPBELL (AUS), F ZANOTTI (PAR),
74 K VILIPS (AUS), A COCKERILL (CAN), C WOOD (AUS), D PUIG (ESP), M JONES (AUS), R GOUVEIA (POR), T PULKKANEN (FIN), J NORRIS (AUS), A FITZPATRICK (ENG), M BALDWIN (ENG), J GIRRBACH (SUI), J DOULL (AUS), F CELLI (ITA), Y PAUL (GER),
75 L HERBERT (AUS), S BAIRSTOW (ENG), K KOBORI (NZL), S HAWKES (AUS), D GARDNER (AUS), C SORDET (FRA), J GUAN (AUS), O BEKKER (RSA), A BLAND (AUS), J STUBBS (AUS), A HALVORSEN (NOR), J MACKENZIE (AUS), A EVANS (AUS),
76 A QUAYLE (AUS), R VAN VELZEN (RSA), L TIGHE (AUS), J YULE (ENG), C MALEC (USA), S NADIMPALLI (AUS), B PHILLIPS (AM) (AUS),
77 B KENNEDY (AUS), P LONARD (AUS), P CAMPBELL (AUS), F SCHOTT (GER), M WRIGHT (AUS), A GALLEGOS (ARG),
78 M STEINLECHNER (AUT), M SANCHEZ (AUS), J PICKIN (AUS), A MARTIN (AUS), M TOOROP (NED),
79 T HART (AUS), D WILLETT (ENG), F LAOPAKDEE (AM) (THA),
81 J CONRAN (AUS), R PAMPLING (AUS),
82 H CROWE (AUS), W BRUYERES (AUS),