Rory McIlroy’s long-awaited return to the Australian Open might not have gotten off to a hot start on the course, but that didn’t stop him from receiving a hero’s welcome.
The 2025 Masters winner shot a one-over 72 to open his account at Royal Melbourne under challenging conditions, leaving him seven shots off the lead after Thursday’s action.
Rory McIlroy’s group was the main attraction of the day, as he navigated the course alongside Australia’s only Masters winner, Adam Scott, and the ever-popular Min Woo Lee, who returns home a PGA Tour winner after his Houston Open win this year.
Fans crowded the course for McIlroy’s practice round on Wednesday, so the buzz surrounding the career Grand Slam winner was expected to be electric when he got his tournament underway. And he couldn’t believe the reception he got from the Australian fans on the first tee.
What shocked Rory McIlroy about the Australian Open fans
McIlroy’s tee time was at 7am, so while we knew his group would be immensely popular among those attending the event in Melbourne, the fans would have been forgiven for taking some time to wake up.
But no. McIlroy, Lee, and Scott had to navigate a sea of fans just to get to the first tee box, and the trio were met with an outpouring of affection.
Despite not playing as he might have liked, McIlroy spoke about the “incredible” fans after his round.
He said, “It was amazing, I couldn’t believe how many people were there at 7am when we teed off. It’s absolutely incredible. There are events in golf that means a little bit more.
Do you think Rory McIlroy will win two or more majors before he retires?
“I think everyone in Australia takes so much pride in their national open, and you can really see and feel that.
“It’s a pleasure to be here again. It was great to play with Adam and Min Woo, they played really nicely, and I’m looking forward to getting out there again tomorrow.”
After McIlroy faced a torrent of abuse at the Ryder Cup from the New York fans, it must be refreshing to see supporters like these for the Northern Irishman.
Rory McIlroy says he was ‘caught out’ at Royal Melbourne
Royal Melbourne is known as one of the very best and most challenging golf courses on the planet, and it bared its teeth to McIlroy during his opening round.
He said the wind gave him difficulties on the day: “I think the tricky things with this North wind is that there is a lot of heavy cross winds and depending on what you want to do with your shot, that cross wind can hurt it or help it.
“So, depending on if you want to ride the wind or fight it a touch, and then because the fairways are so wide, the angles then become where if I was in the middle of the fairway, the wind would be helping this shot, but I’m on the left side, so it’s actually going to hurt it.
The Golfing Gazette’s Australian Open predictions
Jordan Harris: Daniel Hillier has been knocking on the door for some time on the DP World Tour, agonisingly falling short of earning a PGA Tour card for 2026. The Kiwi has a fantastic chance of securing the biggest victory of his career to date. 🏌️♂️
James Shearman: Rory McIlroy was only a few strokes away from winning the Abu Dhabi Championship and the DP World Tour Championship last month, so he’s still in excellent form. Also, he will not face the same competition as in the UAE, so a similar performance will probably be enough for victory in Australia. 💰️
Peter Lynch: Rory McIlroy should be well rested and fully recovered after a busy spell, and he’s definitely got the game to outclass the rest of the field this week. ⛳️
Charlie Walker: No need to overthink this one! Rory McIlroy has been threatening to pick up yet another impressive win in recent months, and this time around, I expect him to be the class of the field and win another Australian Open. 🏆️
“I got caught out a little bit at times out there today, and you just have to keep the ball down and flight it down.
“The nice thing is, for the most part, you can run the ball up on the greens, so that makes it play a little bit easier in the wind. But you have to control your trajectory and just have a good feel for it.”
It was an up-and-down day for McIlroy, who had five birdies and six bogeys on the day. He’ll hope to tune in on that upside and eliminate mistakes to challenge the top of the leaderboard later in the tournament.
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