Elvis Smylie, Ryan Fox and Carlos Ortiz shared a two-shot lead after mastering tricky, windy conditions on day one of the Crown Australian Open at Royal Melbourne.
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Related: McIlroy targets second trophy at Crown Australian Open
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.
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Smylie, Fox and Ortiz handled the challenge best, firing matching 65s to reach six under and set the pace ahead of Cameron Adam, Clement Charmasson and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.
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.
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.
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Smylie finished the 2025 Race to Dubai as the top-ranked Australian and continued to star on home soil after narrowly missing out on dual membership with the PGA TOUR.
Meanwhile Fox made his mark on the international stage in 2025 with two wins on the PGA TOUR, adding to his four so far on the DP World Tour.
England’s Eddie Pepperell is back on Tour via the HotelPlanner Tour and he fired a 68 to sit three back alongside Australian trio Corey Lamb, Stephen Leaney and Wade Ormsby and Kiwi Daniel Hillier.
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South African Michael Hollick made the third hole-in-one of the season on the seventh to sit in a 14-strong group at two under. Masters champion Rory McIlroy opened with a one over par 72 to sit amongst the group seven shots back from the lead.
Player quotes
Elvis Smylie: It was really solid round, 65 round around Royal Melbourne, the first round of an Aussie Open would be great. That three-putt to kick things off wasn’t that great, but I felt like I did a really good job of putting that behind me. And 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.
I think it just goes to show how much I’ve learned over on the DP World Tour. I think week, week out, you’re always adjusting, adapting. The courses are so different, the climates are so different. I think you’re constantly adding tools to your toolbox. You’re playing against some of the best players in the world over there.
I’ve played around Royal Melbourne a lot of times before, so 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.
Ryan Fox: I would’ve taken even par today. 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.
So I was very happy I managed to stay away from all the bad stuff today and holed a couple of putts early and sort of kept me on my way and hung on through the middle, through the really tough stretch of holes there, and then took advantage of the par fives and a couple of good wedge shots coming home.
I’ve been playing really nicely at home. I’ve had two months off, so I’ve kind of expected a little bit of rust last week and surprised myself a little bit through the first 27 holes and then the rust kicked in after that, and I made some silly mistakes and really sloppy bogeys and stuff like that, but there was some positive signs.
I played really nicely on Sunday last week and felt like three-under was the worst score I could have shot. 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.
