A freakish stroke of luck helped younger Australian Elvis Smylie shoot to the highest of the leaderboard, whereas Rory McIlroy endured a rollercoaster first spherical of the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne on Thursday.
Monster crowds swarmed the sting of the fairways and greens from McIlroy’s 7.05am tee time and all through the morning as winds, described by Adam Scott as essentially the most difficult he has ever seen at Royal Melbourne, brought on loads of complications for the sphere, together with the profession grand slam winner who ended the day with a one-over par 72.
McIlroy made seven bogeys and 5 birdies for the day, enjoying the again 9 (his first 9) in even par 37 earlier than coming dwelling in 35.
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He twice made back-to-back birdies, however every time the Masters champions seemed to be getting on a roll, he dropped a shot.
“I made sufficient birdies, however simply must restrict the errors,” McIlroy advised reporters at Royal Melbourne.
“However felt okay. It was good to get one spherical executed.
“I don’t really feel like I’m too far off.”
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McIlroy turned heads on match eve by saying that Kingston Heath was the very best course within the metropolis, not Royal Melbourne.
These phrases could have haunted him barely on the greens as he missed a number of brief putts.
“I must putt higher,” McIlroy mentioned.
“I may really feel myself struggling on the greens a bit bit Tuesday and Wednesday – simply to see reads.
“They’re fairly difficult to learn in spots. So, I struggled with the placing early on immediately.
“I holed some good ones. I believe I used to be higher from 25 toes than inside 5 (toes). Work on that a bit bit.”
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Within the group behind McIlroy and famous person Australians Adam Scott (-2) and Min Woo Lee (-2), Cameron Smith (-1) performed extra like his outdated self as Smylie stole the present with a six-under par opening spherical 65.
The 23-year-old left-hander introduced himself final Australian summer season when he gained the Australian PGA at Royal Queensland, and confirmed why he’s such a extremely touted prospect with a shocking spherical which included seven birdies.
Smylie three-putted for bogey to begin the day on the tenth, however by no means missed a beat from then on.
Essentially the most eye-catching second of his day got here on the first, the beginning of his second 9, when his method missed the inexperienced however struck a spectator on the foot and ricocheted near the pin, establishing a birdie.
“He was a paid actor,” Smylie mentioned with fun.
“I believe when issues like that occur, you realize the golf gods are in your aspect for the day,” he added.
Smylie pieced collectively a formidable debut on the DP World Tour.
The Queenslander, who’s the son of former Australian tennis skilled Liz Smylie, ending twenty third within the season lengthy Race to Dubai rankings and he now feels able to take one other large step ahead in his profession.
“I embrace days like immediately. I believe I belong and I do know that and I imagine that,” he mentioned.
“So, I’m simply completely satisfied that I’m capable of showcase that on a stage like this one.”
Smylie’s rivals are definitely standing up and taking discover of him.
Min Woo Lee was within the group in entrance, however is aware of Smylie effectively and agreed with the teenager that he belongs among the many large weapons.
“He’s been enjoying nice. It’s been a superb journey,” Lee mentioned of Smylie.
“We have now the identical coach (Ritchie Smith), so we get to observe collectively and play collectively, and I believe he’s come a great distance.
“He’s turning into a little bit of a person, I might say. He was only a younger boy a few years in the past.
“He’s progressing properly and it’s good to see him up there on the leaderboard.”
In the identical group as Smylie, Cameron Smith made a promising begin as he seems to snap a streak of seven straight missed cuts in world rating occasions.
The LIV Golf star shot 70, the identical rating as Ripper GC teammate Marc Leishman, however reached the flip in three-under par.
Regardless of making three bogeys on the entrance 9, his second 9, Smith felt like he started to show a nook.
“Yeah, yeah, I felt higher. Simply in all probability fastened a little bit of tempo stuff up with my placing,” he mentioned.
“That’s been actually good, significantly with the shorter stuff. So yeah, I really feel like I did fairly good immediately.
“I really feel like I performed fairly stable, made all of the putts I used to be purported to make and I in all probability left a pair on the market, however it’s what it’s. It’s blown 50ks an hour.”
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In the meantime a superb begin enabled Kiwi Ryan Fox to hit the clubhouse as joint chief with Smylie at six below.
Fox was -4 after six holes and whereas harder and windy situations made life tougher for him than the early starters, 4 birdies between the thirteenth and seventeenth holes allowed him to shoot 65.
Within the night Carlos Ortiz joined them, following up a powerful begin (5 birdies in seven holes on the entrance 9) with a superb eagle on the seventeenth to complete six below.
ROYAL MELBOURNE TEE TIMES (AEDT)
ROUND 1
Tee 1
6.45am: Tim Hart, Jak Carter, Jack Yuletide
6.55am: James Conran, Blake Proverbs, Adri Arnaus
7.05am: Matthew Baldwin, Davies Bryant, Alexander Simpson
7.15am: Rafael Campos, Richard Inexperienced, Curtis Luck
7.25am: Jordan Doull, Nathan Kimsey, Haydn Barron
7.35am: David Micheluzzi, Oliver Bekker, Eddie Pepperell
7.45am: Ben Campbell, Freedy Schott, Adam Bland
7.55am: Mike Toorop, Jogn Senden, Michael Wright
8.05am: Daniel Younger, Brett Rumford, Fifa Laopakdee
8.25am: Ben Henkel
8.35am: Sadom Kaewkanjana, Andres German Gallegos
8.45am: Siddharth Nadimpalli, Andrew Evans, Blake Phillips
11.45am: Anthony Quayle, Karl Vilips, Jason Scrivener
11.55am: Jose Luis Ballester, Matt McCarty, Romain Langasque
12.05pm: Ryan Fox, Si Woo Kim, Joaquin Niemann
12.15pm: Lucas Herbert, Daniel Hillier, David Puig
12.25pm: Cam Davis, Abraham Ancer, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
12.35pm: Wenyi Ding Matt Jones, Ryo Hsatsune
12.45pm: Rafa Cabrera Bello, Jye Halls, Kazuma Kobori
12.55pm: Carlos Ortiz, Bernd Wiesberger, Wade Ormsby
1.05pm: Jack Buchanan, Tom Valliant, Maximillian Steinlechner
1.15pm: Lachlan Barker, Matthew Griffin, Stefano Mazzoli
1.25pm: Benjamin Follet-Smith, Dylan Gardner, Rocco Repetto Taylor
1.35pm: Jack Munro, Robin Williams, Ryan Can Velzen
1.45pm: Tapio Pulkkanen, Nathan Barbieri, Jason Norris
Tee 10
6.45am: Matias Sanchez, Austin Bautisa, Jeff Guan
6.55am: Alex Fitzpatrick, Geoff Ogilvy, Ryan Peake
7.05am: Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Rory McIlroy
7.15am: Cam Smith, Danny Willett, Elvis Smylie
7.25am: Joel Girrbach, Marc Leishman, Ugo Coussaud
7.35am: Charley Hoffman, Harrison Crowe, Sebastian Munoz
7.45am: Nick Voke, Caleb Surrat, Andrew Martin
7.55am: Jordan Gumberg, Jack Thompson, Andrew Johnston
8.05am: Quim Vidal, Josh Geary, Connor McKinney
8.15am: James Marchesani, Quinnton Croker, Hunter Logan
8.25am: Jasper Stubbs, Andreas Halvorsen, Filippo Celli
8.35am: Chris Malec, Will Flormi, Jay Mackenzie
8.45am: Andrew Campbell, Yannik Paul, Fabrizio Zanotti
11.45am: Jack Senior, Jake McLeod, Aaron Cockerill
11.55am: Christopher Wooden, Kaito Sato, Renato Paratore
12.05pm: Brad Kennedy, Sean Crocker, Brendan Jones
12.15pm: Nicholas Colsaerts, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Jediah Morgan
12.25pm: Sebastian Garcia, Sam Bairstow, Cameron John
12.35pm: David Regulation, Kerry Mountcastle, Ben Eccles
12.45pm: Greg Chalmers, Harry Takis, Ricardo Gouveia
12.55pm: Peter Lonard, Stephen Allan, Stephen Leaney
1.05pm: Daniel Gale, Shubhankar Sharma, Tobias Jonsson
1.15pm: Simon Hawkes, Clement Charmasson, Daniel Rodrigues
1.25pm: James Morrison, Cameron Adam, Phoenix Campbell
1.35pm: Michael Hollick, Clement Sordet, Jimmy Zheng
1.45pm: Brady Watt, Ollie Marsh, Lincoln Tighe