MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Rory McIlroy might not have endeared himself to the Royal Melbourne Golf Club membership on Wednesday when he gave his impression of the famed sandbelt course — he says it’s not the best in Melbourne.
McIlroy will tee off in the opening round of the Australian Open on Thursday with Adam Scott, whom he beat for the title in 2013, and another Australian drawcard Min Woo Lee.
But McIlroy, who played five holes at five different Melbourne courses on Monday, wasn’t overly enthusiastic about Royal Melbourne, rating nearby Kingston Heath above it.
Royal Melbourne has hosted the Presidents Cup three times but Kingston Heath will be the venue in 2028 for the International vs. the United States team event. And Kingston Heath will also host the Australian Open next year, which McIlroy has already committed to play.
“I don’t want the membership to take this badly but it’s probably not the best course in Melbourne,” said McIlroy, who won the Masters this year to become just the sixth man to achieve the career grand slam.
He did at least add that he considered the course among the top 10 in the world and said it possibly played “funky” on Wednesday due to the northerly wind.
“I didn’t anticipate how many blind tee shots there was going to be, and it takes a little bit to figure out. It’s certainly not straightforward. I think as well, it probably plays better in the southerly wind rather than a northerly wind … it’s probably not a fair reflection on the golf course playing it in this wind.”
He also added his approval of the Australian Open returning to a stand-alone format, breaking ties with the Women’s Australian Open which had been held concurrently with the men’s event the past three years.
“This tournament in particular because of the history, because of the tradition, deserves to be a stand-alone tournament, a week on its own,” McIlroy said.
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FILE – Adam Scott, of Australia, tees off on the ninth hole during the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club, June 15, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Wednesday that the “findings” returned from Gaza do not match either of the hostages taken during Hamas’ 2023 attack who remain in Gaza. It’s yet another challenge to the fragile ceasefire.
The material handed over Tuesday was found in Gaza’s northern town of Beit Lahiya, according to Palestinian media. In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said forensic testing was completed and it was not linked to the dead hostages.
Hamas has yet to comment on the latest handover.
With the remains of two hostages, one Israeli and one Thai national, remaining in Gaza, the sides are close to wrapping up the first phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
Twenty living hostages and the remains of 26 others have been returned to Israel since the ceasefire began in early October. The returns are a key part of the terms of a shaky agreement, which both Hamas and Israel have accused the other of breaking.
Israel’s Prime Ministers Office used the term findings rather than “remains” in its statements Tuesday and Wednesday when discussing what had been returned from Gaza. It was not immediately clear why and the office did not comment when asked by The Associated Press.
The two hostages remaining in Gaza are Ran Gvili and Sudthisak Rinthalak.
Gvili helped people escape from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023 and was killed fighting at another location. The military confirmed his death four months later. He is survived by his parents and a sister.
Sudthisak Rinthalak was an agricultural worker from Thailand who had been employed at Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest-hit communities in the attack. According to media reports, Sudthisak had been working in Israel since 2017.
A total of 31 workers from Thailand were abducted, the largest group of foreigners to be held in captivity. Most of them were released in the first and second ceasefires. The Thai Foreign Ministry has said in addition to the hostages, 46 Thais have been killed during the war.
Israel has been releasing 15 Palestinian bodies for the remains of each hostage as part of the ceasefire agreement. The Gaza Health Ministry said the total number of remains received so far is 330.
Hamas has said recovering bodies is complicated by the widespread devastation in Gaza. Israel has pushed to speed up the returns and in certain cases has said the remains were not those of hostages.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas returned 20 living hostages to Israel on Oct. 13. The further exchanges of the dead have been the central component of the initial phase of the U.S.-brokered agreement which requires Hamas to return all hostage remains as quickly as possible.
The exchanges have gone ahead even as Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating other terms of the deal. Israeli officials have accused Hamas of handing over partial remains in some instances and staging the discovery of bodies in others.
Hamas has accused Israel of opening fire on civilians and restricting the flow of humanitarian aid into the territory. The number of casualties has dropped since the ceasefire took effect, but officials in Gaza have continued to report deaths from strikes, while Israel has said that soldiers have also been killed in militant attacks.
Health officials in Gaza have said they have only been able to identify a fraction of the bodies handed over by Israel, and the process is complicated by a lack of DNA testing kits.
After the exchanges, the 20-point plan calls for creating an international stabilization force, forming a technocratic Palestinian government and disarming Hamas.
The ceasefire aims to wind down the war that was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says the Palestinian toll has topped 70,100. The ministry does not distinguish between militants and civilians, though it says roughly have of those killed have been women and children. The ministry operates under the Hamas-run government. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.
A vehicle carrying the remains of a person whom Hamas claims is a deceased hostage, transferred earlier today by Gaza militants to Israeli authorities, arrives at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
