Round 1 Highlights | 2026 Crown Australian Open

Highlights of the first round of the Crown Australian Open. Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee battled it out in tough morning conditions but it was Elvis Smylie and Ryan Fox who came out on top at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne.

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The DP World Tour continues its double header Down Under with the Crown Australian Open at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. After a 20-year absence, this week sees golf’s global Tour return to the renowned Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the fifth time. It previously staged the Heinekin Classic for four consecutive years between 2002-2005. This is the 17th time the men’s Crown Australian Open – co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR of Australasia since 2022 – has been held at the venue and the first since since 1991. Royal Melbourne was most recently under the international golf microscope when it hosted the Presidents Cup in 2019. At the top of the field is Rory McIlroy, making his 2026 DP World Tour season debut. McIlroy may be the headline name, but there are plenty of other draw cards for the home crowds. Among those are Major champions Adam Scott, Cam Smith and Geoff Ogilvy. Min Woo Lee draws strong support too, while fellow Antipodeans Ryan Fox, Daniel Hillier and Kazuma Kobori will be out to impress. There is a strong international presence, with South Korea’s Si Woo Kim, Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune among those to receive an invite.

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trying to flight it down. That’s where it did start. Needs to go a little. Creativity from Rory on display immediately. So impressive early on. Almost better than that. It’s beautifully done. a putt on a similar line just moments ago. It’s got the speed. Oh, what a start from Mroy down under on top immediately. Certainly is an opening statement. Good strike. Miles in the air. What a good line, too. Sep. O. Another short range miss from Maroy and it’s rolled past by about 3 ft again. 109. It’s headed out to the left. Coming back. Oh, very nice. Former champion Jeff Oggov was in outstanding form last week at the PGA in Brisbane. This was moments ago here on the par five and he’s running it up beautifully. Anything landing on this green with a long iron is going straight over the back. And Jeff knows that. Finally, he’s able to convert. He’s had three birdie opportunities since the blemish on 10. Now Scott for eagle. And that’ll get him going. Adam Scott with an eagle. doesn’t threaten but should be able to tap that in for a birdie and get himself under par. He’s Alex Fitzpatrick 16. Back into the breeze and got the little hybrid out by the looks. That is a stunning shot. Oh, the Rory fans are ready. Another magnificent long putt from Rory Mroy. You can’t keep him down for too long. He’s just seen Chems kick up. He’ll need something similar. Well, that’s come off on a good line that from Smiley. Give Smith a little teach with that one. 30 m bunk shot back into the breeze. Likely to get a face full of sand. This has come out beautifully. Going to roll it out now. Left with six or seven feet to maybe make the birdie first. I love his putting strike. I like a lot about Elvis Smiley’s game. I like what’s between his ears as well. 2018 here at Royal and got it. There’s a birdie for Minry Lee at 17. The fairway and paid it off in the world. This guy’s popular the world over. Eddie Peril chance to get the three under and join the leaders and right around for another birdie. Little lap of honor there for Eddie. I was going to say it’s not often you get the world number 40 carrying the scoreboard around for a group of three. You can watch the ball flight thanks to track there and support from Rolex. Oh yes. Pulling the spring and the tap inverting. could hear a pin drop as he was over that. This flying a little deeper really long. So back it comes. Maroy just off the back of the 18th green tracking and Cam Smith looking for his first Australian Open title as a co-leader on day one. Well judged now. Elvis from the right side of the fairway here on one. We’re drawing one in from the middle of the green. Yeah, I believe he’s got six iron here. Brad told me that wind is really howing across left and right now. Oh well, there you go. Straight away. There you go. Sometimes you just need a little bit of luck. Well, if he holds that putt, I’d race over to that person and I don’t know, just give him half a dozen balls or something. Here he is at two. 1419 in hand. This is high, but it looks good. It looks like it will get there. And get there. It does. Opportunity for Rory to get that shot that he lost straight back. It’s always tricky to read how much sand there is on the faces like this read beautifully. It’s something that you do get to know the tapestry of each course on the Melbourne Sand Belt. Bit similar for Rory really. That was never going to miss. Aori roller coaster continues the downs and the ups. to join the lead. Elvis Smiley a three with an assist. You could say, not sure if he’s found that spectator yet, but I’m sure he has. Yeah, got the Sharpie out. going to sign that ball straight up the hill and straight in. And once again, no pass in sight for Rory at the moment. It’s Birdie or Bogey. Here’s Eddie Peril back on the DP World Tour and back contending. Wow. Back to Rory. Another trap here at four. The gasps of the gallery says it all. Newan. Yeah. Putting across the green uphill into the breeze. Moving from his left to right. Perfect long range putt from Minwaggling on this hole. Not so for Minw. Uphill slow putt right center. There’s a par and a handy one. Dead center in the end. I think the cashmere breathes a little better. Not the spot to be for this flag though for Alex Fitzpatrick. Not much to work with, but he has done very well. That’s a crowdleaser. Alex Fitzpatrick all the way back to one over again. Head high. Nearly the lip for Maroy here at seven. On a bit of an ups slope, he can create some spin. That is the required shot, Nick. But I don’t know if all these players have got that low shot running shot. This one has flown way up in the air for Elvis on a better line than Cam’s just left of the pin. That’ll hold. He’d have to be happy with that opportunity. a win. And doesn’t he make it work? Elvis Smiley five under and he is making the running. The crowd Australian open. Tough one to do it on. Back into the breeze off the right. This one drawing should be good. Right side of the fairway. taking one for the team there. Hopefully everyone’s okay. Now Mroy putter out superbly judged on that occasion. Now Adam Scott from the back left. knows this place so well for the international team. President’s Cup level. Great look here for Smiley. Get to six. He’s got it. Elvis Smiley looking to claim his second Aussie major. Emperor looking to bounce back for the final hole of the day for him. The iconic 18th here on the composite course. That’s where you want to land it. And that’s what you want to do. Ryan Fox, we saw the T-shot missed the greenside bunker. He’s going to chip across the green and gets to this point right about here and it’s straight downhill. That is wonderful touch. Don’t tell me. Oh, [Applause] almost an eagle too for the New Zealander. Fuse. This is all about controlling the distance coming up over the ridge now. And he’s done that beautifully. Well, he’s starting how he left off from last week. Hasn’t lost his touch from last week. Here’s Cam Davis, a former Australian Open champion at the Australian Golf Club. Awkward one this on the short par four looking to use the back stop. Certainly is. There’s a little local knowledge involved with this one. Little funneled back to the edge of the green but beautifully played. Had really no shot going straight at the flag. Two under after his first three holes. The Kiwi Ryan Fox. And this is tracking. Oh, what a start from the Kiwi. Off to a flyer. Three under after four. There’s a hat-tick of threes earlier on with Yuan Porter. He said the organizers made a great call in that regard. This is rolling right into the middle for Cam Davis. Clever and you need to be at six by a stair. Found the fairway half the equation. Sharp dog leg right. He’s found the second too. Trying to flight this one down. See where Kim, he doesn’t like it. It’s heading a little bit right, but it actually that should kick down from there. That’s where you want to miss it. Getting closer by the second. It’s got a chance to go in here. Seaw Kim tap in birdie coming up after the club wound up on the tech. And that’s Seaw Kim to a te. But Ryan Fox is playing a different game to just about everybody else. Great little short par three. It’s uh it’s one of the greats. I just uh one of the great shots. Great shot. I watched the group go through there just before. It was amazing how much the ball was sitting up into the breeze. Yeah, that’s the key here, Nick. Back into the breezy. That’s how you hit him in nice and firm. Next to the marquee on the right, they’re yelling for a birdie. They haven’t seen one for a while. Sand wedge in hand. Look at the opening of the club face here from Mard Peterson. Beautifully played. A crowd-pleaser from the day. Doesn’t hurt if you’re the President’s Cup captain. Outside chance to tie the lead here for Fox. Get in is the cry, but it just shakes away. That’ll be a tap in birdie to get to five under [Applause] the green here. Long left. Plenty of green to work with. It’s all about distance control. Oh, and he’s judged it to perfection. Perfect T- shot for Fox. Just 110 with a sandwich wedge. This looks excellent off the club. That’s the best we’ve seen all day. So hard to get it close to that back left hand pin is to join Smiley at the top. What a round of golf he is putting together right now in these conditions. Just the one bogey on the ninth and seven birdies to go along with it. Red leather day for Australian Golf. He was the headline act this morning and he’ll be front and center tomorrow afternoon. A bit to think about tonight and again he’ll be our focus tomorrow afternoon when the Crown Australian Open continues. It’s the second round at the moment led by Elvis Smiley and Ryan Fox. And he’ll have a completely different golf course ahead of him tomorrow with conditions with the wind switching. So he can press reset tonight and go full send tomorrow. So seven birdies and one bag. What did you like most out there today? Uh I mean yeah, there was a lot to like. Um, obviously that that three putt to kick things off on the 10th wasn’t that great, but I I felt like I did a really good job of putting that behind me and um got along with um what I what I do best. I mean, I love these kind of conditions when it’s windy, firm, fast greens. It really requires you to to use your imagination, use your creativity, and I I felt like I did a really good job of that today. Talking about that, you’ve spent a lot of time with Mike Clayton. Did he show you some of those shots cuz they look very Caitlike today? Yeah, I mean I’ve uh I’ve played a lot with Clates every time I’ve come down here to Melbourne. So him and I have a really good relationship and um yeah, it’s uh Cate it is very Caitlike today. 1970s golf as I call it. Um but it was required today and I’m I’m very uh very good at being able to hit, you know, 1970s shots and then knowing when to um I guess play new school as well. So I feel like I I know how to how to do both. Well, you did it very well. Uh just tell us quickly about the golf course. It showed some teeth in those last five or six holes. Yeah, I think um the course is definitely firmer and faster today than it was the Monday to Wednesday. So um the Greens keepers have done a really good job with um I think picking a good um speed because obviously it was quite gusty so they didn’t want to lose the the greens out there today, but I felt like you know the staff did a great job and um you know some really tricky pins out there. So it’s important just to make sure you’re leaving on the right side especially with some of those crosswinds that we played with uh coming down the stretch. Hey, great plan. We’ll see you tomorrow. Thank you. Sounds good. To watch another DP World Tour video, click here. And to subscribe, click here.