DP World Tour : Crown Australian Open Leaderboard Tee Times
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.
There has been much excitement about 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.
And it was Smylie, Fox and Ortiz who tackled them best, carding rounds of 65 to get to -6 and lead the way from Cameron Adam 67, Clement Charmasson 67 and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 67 -4
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.
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.
A lucky bounce on the first was followed by another gain on the third, with a lengthy putt on the seventh extending his lead and a birdie on the eighth giving him some breathing room.
“It was really solid round, 65 round around Royal Melbourne, the first round of an Aussie Open would be great,” he said.
“I don’t think I need to start pushing and fighting the wind. I think like I did today, just kind of take your moments, knowing when to attack the flags and when to pull back.
"Obviously I’m not really sure what the conditions are going to be the next three days, but everyone’s in the same boat and just try and keep doing what I’m doing.”
Fox made his mark on the international stage in 2025 with two wins on the PGA TOUR including the RBC Canadian Open, adding to his four so far on the DP World Tour.
“I would've taken even par today,” he said. “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 crosswinds, 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.”
Last week’s top-25 in Brisbane came on Ortiz’s first start in a regular DP World Tour event and he has brought his momentum south, adding six birdies and two bogeys to his eagle.
"You had to respect the golf course and I think I did a great job on that," he said. "We planned it around, we just tried to put in play, be smart, hit greens, and we were lucky enough to make some good putts."
Neergaard-Petersen had a breakout 2025 as he earned dual membership but he is still searching for a first DP World Tour win and an eagle, four birdies and two bogeys gave him a solid start -4 67.
England’s Eddie Pepperell is back on Tour via the HotelPlanner Tour and he fired a -3 68 to sit three back alongside Australian trio Corey Lamb, Stephen Leaney and Wade Ormsby and Kiwi Daniel Hillier.
South African Michael Hollick made the third hole-in-one of the season on the seventh to sit in a 14-strong group at -2, three clear of Masters champion Rory McIlroy T57 +1 72 who said he was happy to "limit the damage" as Royal Melbourne bared its teeth, as the beauty became a beast as high winds made scoring very difficult in Victoria.
And with that in mind McIlroy, who is seeking an "amazing" end to the year which saw him become a Grand Slam champion, was not displeased with an opening 72.
"It's tricky. Very, very tricky," he said. "Greens are getting firm. It was a good thing they didn't cut them today, it would've been unplayable.
"I felt like I could have shot under par or shot something in the 60s but it doesn't look like anyone's going to get too far away today.
"So I limited the damage and hopefully conditions are a little better over the next few days and could make a run.
"I think the putter was hard and then it's just hard to get the ball close.
"When you can't get it that close and then you're just trying to two-putt those sort of longer putts, it's hard to make up any ground.
McIlroy was out at 7.05am in a stellar group with local heroes Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott and despite the hour, the fairways were lined with spectators.
"I made enough birdies, but I just need to limit the mistakes a little bit but it felt OK. It was good to get one round done and not feel like I'm too far back. It's amazing. 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."
EDIT >>> Canada's Aaron Cockerill back on DP World Tour for his 5th straight year after T2 at the Final Stage Q School, MC last week at the Aussie PGA, and struggled in the conditions on his front nine +4 38, however he settled in coming in with 8 pars, a birdie -1 36 T105 74 +3.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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