Rory McIlroy says he will need to putt better if he’s to win the Australian Open for a second time after an opening round of one-over 72 at Royal Melbourne on Thursday.
Huge galleries followed the morning group of Mcllroy and Australian pair Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee, who both shot rounds of two-under 69 to upstage the world No.2 and reigning Masters champion.
“I felt like I could have shot under par or shot something in the 60s,” McIlroy said after a round that included six bogeys and five birdies.
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Rory: ‘It was a rollercoaster day’ | 03:03
“I need to putt better. I could feel myself struggling on the greens a little bit (in practice rounds) on Tuesday and Wednesday just to see reads.
“They’re quite tricky to read in spots, so I struggled with the putting early on today.
“I holed some good ones. I think I was better from outside 25 feet than I was from inside five, so (I’ll) work on that a little bit.
“I just need to limit the mistakes a little bit but it felt OK. It was good to get one round done.”
LEADERBOARD: Australian Open live scores
The winner of the 2013 edition of the tournament, McIlroy was impressed by the big crowd that turned up to watch his group, which teed off at 7.05am (AEDT).
“It was great. It was a wonderful atmosphere to play in,” the 36-year-old Northern Irishman said.
“Playing with Adam and Min Woo too, it was unbelievable. It was really cool to see how many people were lining the fairways and framing the greens.
“The welcome has been so warm. It’s been a pleasure to be here and hopefully I can just play a little bit better over the next three days.”
Queenslander Elvis Smylie shot a six-under 65 on the par-71 layout to hold a share of the lead after round one with New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz.
Fox and Ortiz are among the early starters on Friday with Smylie beginning his second round from the first tee at 12:15pm, just after the McIlroy, Scott and Lee group.
“It was really solid round,” Smylie said.
“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 was leaving it (the ball) on the right side of the hole.
“I embrace days like today. I think I belong, and I know that and I believe that, so I’m just happy that I’m able to showcase that on a stage like this one.”
Smylie’s fellow Queenslander Cam Smith, who missed the cut at last week’s Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane, shot a one-under 71 on Thursday.
“I feel like I did pretty good today,” LIV star Smith said.
“I feel like I played pretty solid, made all the putts I was supposed to make and I probably left a couple out there, but it is what it is.”
DANISH STAR MAKES EARLY DAY 2 CHARGE
Dangerous Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen has wasted no time making an impression as the early starters hit Royal Melbourne on Friday morning.
The world No.82 has two birdies and an eagle in his first five holes so surge to the tournament lead at -8, one ahead of Mexican Carlos Ortiz who has also started brightly.
Joint overnight leader Fox is even par for his round through six holes.
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen of Denmark.Source: Getty Images
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AUSTRALIAN OPEN ROUND 2 TEE TIMES
1st hole
6:45am
Jack Senior
Jake McLeod
Aaron Cockerill
6:55am
Chris Wood
Kaito Sato
Renato Paratore
7:05am
Brad Kennedy
Sean Crocker
Brendan Jones
7:15am
Nicolas Colsaerts
Kiradech Aphibarnrat
Jediah Morgan
7:25am
Sebastian Garcia
Sam Bairstow
Cameron John
7:35am
David Law
Kerry Mountcastle
Ben Eccles
7:45am
Greg Chalmers
Harry Takis
Ricardo Gouveia
7:55am
Peter Lonard
Stephen Allan
Stephen Leaney
8:05am
Daniel Gale
Shubhankar Sharma
Tobias Jonsson
8:15am
Simon Hawkes
Clement Charmasson
Daniel Rodrigues
8:25am
James Morrison
Cameron Adam
Phoenix Campbell
8:35am
Michael Hollick
Clement Sordet
Jimmy Zheng
8:45am
Brady Watt
Ollie Marsh
Lincoln Tighe
10th hole
6:45am
Anthony Quayle
Karl Vilips
Jason Scrivener
6:55am
Jose Luis Ballester
Matt McCarty
Romain Langasque
7:05am
Ryan Fox
Si Woo Kim
Joaquin Niemann
7:15am
Lucas Herbert
Daniel Hillier
David Puig
7:25am
Cam Davis
Abraham Ancer
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
7:35am
Wenyi Ding
Matt Jones
Ryo Hisatsune
7:45am
Rafa Cabrera Bello
Jye Halls
Kazuma Kobori
7:55am
Carlos Ortiz
Bernd Wiesberger
Wade Ormsby
8:05am
Jack Buchanan
Tom Vaillant
Maximilian Steinlechner
8:15am
Lachlan Barker
Matthew Griffin
Stefano Mazzoli
8:25am
Benjamin Follett-Smith
Dylan Gardner
Rocco Repetto Taylor
8:35am
Jack Munro
Robin Williams
Ryan Van Velzen
8:45am
Tapio Pulkkanen
Nathan Barbieri
Jason Norris
1st hole
11:45am
Matias Sanchez
Austin Bautista
Jeff Guan
11:55am
Alex Fitzpatrick
Geoff Ogilvy
Ryan Peake
12:05pm
Adam Scott
Min Woo Lee
Rory McIlroy
12:15pm
Elvis Smylie
Danny Willett
Cam Smith
12:25pm
Joel Girrbach
Marc Leishman
Ugo Coussaud
12:35pm
Charley Hoffman
Harrison Crowe
Sebastian Munoz
12:45pm
Nick Voke
Caleb Surratt
Andrew Martin
12:55pm
Jordan Gumberg
Jack Thompson
Andrew Johnston
1:05pm
Quim Vidal
Josh Geary
Connor McKinney
1:15pm
James Marchesani
Quinnton Croker
Hunter Logan
1:25pm
Jasper Stubbs
Andreas Halvorsen
Filippo Celli
1:35pm
Chris Malec
Will Florimo
Jay Mackenzie
1:45pm
Andrew Campbell
Yannik Paul
Fabrizio Zanotti
10th hole
11:45am
Tim Hart
Jak Carter
Jack Yule
11:55am
James Conran
Blake Proverbs
Adri Arnaus
12:05pm
Matthew Baldwin
Davis Bryant
Alexander Simpson
12:15pm
Rafael Campos
Richard Green
Curtis Luck
12:25pm
Jordan Doull
Nathan Kimsey
Haydn Barron
12:35pm
David Micheluzzi
Oliver Bekker
Eddie Pepperell
12:45pm
Ben Campbell
Freddy Schott
Adam Bland
12:55pm
Mike Toorop
John Senden
Michael Wright
1:05pm
Daniel Young
Josh Berry
Tyler Hodge
1:15pm
Rod Pampling
Brett Rumford
Fifa Laopakdee
1:25pm
Ben Henkel
William Bruyeres
Gregorio De Leo
1:35pm
Sadom Kaewkanjana
Andres German Gallegos
Corey Lamb
1:45pm
Siddharth Nadimpalli
Andrew Evans
Blake Phillips
