Staff WriterThe Crown Australian Open returned to Royal Melbourne after 34 years away, and the old place responded by hurling a tantrum straight off the Bass Strait. On day one of the national championship, the Composite Course was meant to be the star, but the wind stole the script, chewed it up and spat it straight back into the players’ faces.
Somehow, Elvis Smylie, Ryan Fox and Carlos Ortiz walked off looking like they’d just played a different golf course to everyone else. The trio tamed the gusts with matching 65s to reach six-under, good enough for a two-shot lead over Cameron Adam, Clement Charmasson and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen after a bruising opening round at the Crown Australian Open.
For Smylie, this wasn’t some wide-eyed stroll into the unknown. The BMW Australian PGA champion from last season opened with a three-putt bogey, then responded like a man who knows exactly where the scars are on Royal Melbourne. Seven birdies later, he had the clubhouse lead and a grin that said he’d just passed a particularly nasty exam.
“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,” he said. “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.”
This is a different Smylie to the one Australian fans watched a couple of seasons ago. The DP World Tour has toughened him up.
“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,” he added.
“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.”
The fans noticed. So did he.
“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.”
If Smylie’s round was methodical, Ryan Fox’s effort looked like controlled chaos at times—exactly the way he likes it. He arrived here with two PGA TOUR wins in 2025 to go with his four DP World Tour titles, plus the kind of horsepower that can turn par fives into drive-and-pitch holes even in a crosswind. Still, he wasn’t exactly expecting a 65.
“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,” Fox admitted.
“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.”
Fox hadn’t exactly rolled into Melbourne on a wave of competitive sharpness.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Carlos Ortiz, the third man at the top, looked like he’d turned up for a pilgrimage and ended up leading the procession. His five-under card was already tidy before he reached the 17th, where he promptly eagled to vault into the share of the lead.
“I guess we got lucky, as soon as we step on, we got on 16 green, the wind changed and so we played downwind, we hit a good drive and I hit a good second shot to about 15, 20 feet and made the putt,” Ortiz said, happily understating the whole thing.
If there was a theme to his round, it was discipline.
“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 in play, be smart, hit greens, and we were lucky enough to make some good putts.”
For Ortiz, just being here mattered almost as much as the number next to his name.
“It was like the cherry on top of the year, like my last golfing trip. Playing Royal Melbourne, it’s always been something I’ve had in my bucket list, and I saw the opportunity this year and I took it. So I’m very happy, I’m very impressed with the way they run the tournament here. You can definitely feel the history, the way they’re running the tournament, it’s proper. So I’m glad I came down.”
Behind the leading trio, there was plenty of action further down the board. England’s Eddie Pepperell, back on the main stage via the HotelPlanner Tour, pieced together a crafty 68 to sit three back alongside Australians Corey Lamb, Stephen Leaney and Wade Ormsby, plus New Zealander Daniel Hillier. South African Michael Hollick produced the moment of pure theatre with the third hole-in-one of the season on the seventh, joining a 14-strong group at two-under.
Up ahead, one of those “only in Australia” morning scenes unfolded around the marquee group of Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee. It felt more like a major Sunday than an early-morning Thursday.
“It was a great day. I mean, playing with Rory and Min and fighting to get to the tenth tee this morning with the crowds was good fun,” Scott said. “But the course held up well even in some of the most challenging wind I’ve probably ever played out here. Testament to the course and it’s great for the tournament.”
Scott, ever the perfectionist, still found room for a gentle self-lecture, even after steering his way round in respectable fashion.
“I’m happy with the end results. It’s easy to be critical, but maybe I shouldn’t be. Min probably played the best in the group, tee to green. It’s very hard to keep it under control out there. There were a few squirrely shots, but sometimes you play just into the less of the trouble,” he explained.
“It’s so difficult into the wind sometimes, if you miss it right, you’re unplayable, so you aim left and pull it just a little bit, It’s not a good shot, but it’s not on point on the other side. So I’m pleased, but if the wind dies down, I’ll have to do a little better tee to green.”
McIlroy, fresh off his Masters triumph and drawn back to Royal Melbourne by history, curiosity and maybe a little masochism, signed for a one-over 72 that left him seven behind—but far from beaten.
“I mean 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 in Min Woo 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,” he said.
“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.”
He knows exactly where the damage came from.
“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. 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.”
So after one wild, wind-lashed day at Royal Melbourne, the leaderboard is topped by a homegrown rising star, a proven globetrotting Kiwi and a Mexican bucket-list golfer who’s treating the Crown Australian Open like a year-end victory lap. Behind them lurk seasoned winners, sentimental favourites and a Masters champion who hasn’t quite found the key to these greens—yet.
If the wind keeps howling, this could turn into a war of attrition. If it lays down, we might get fireworks. Either way, Royal Melbourne has made one thing clear: this week, no one is getting anything the easy way.
