Australian Open: Ryan Fox shares lead after opening round at Royal Melbourne

Ryan Fox plays a shot on the third hole on day one of the Crown Australian Open 2025 at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club. Photo / Getty Images

Ryan Fox has outshone grand slam winner Rory McIlroy on the opening day of the Australian Open after leaping into a share of the lead late on.

The Kiwi carded a six-under 65 in windy conditions at the Sandbelt course to match the efforts of Aussie Elvis Smylie. Mexican Carlos Ortiz was a shot back with three holes to play.

Fox started hot with birdies at holes two, three and four followed by another a few holes later to be four-under through seven. A bogey at the par-four ninth was his only blemish on the front nine.

Fox had three straight birdies again on the back nine, including one at the par five 14th when a long eagle look rolled short, which meant he tied the lead with Smylie at six-under.

An errant tee shot at the par-three 16th found the bunkers to the right and led to his second bogey of the day.

However, the world No 41 bounced straight back with another birdie at the only other par five to move back to six-under. Fox will have an early tee time in round two, at 7.05am local time (9.05am NZT), when he will look to set the mark for the chasers in the afternoon groups.

Smylie started the day with a bogey but went seven-under for the rest of his round to also card a 65. The 23-year-old has one DP World Tour win to his name, last year’s Australian PGA Championship.

Daniel Hillier continued his fine form, backing up a top-five finish in Brisbane last week with an opening round 68, including a close eagle look at the 14th that didn’t drop. Hillier had five birdies across the day but a double bogey at the 10th brought him back to even after a strong start before he got hot again on the back nine and moved into the top five.

No Kiwi has ever won the event, which has some of the biggest names in golf on the Stonehaven Cup, including Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Jordan Spieth and McIlroy,

The Masters champion was among the early groups, playing alongside Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee. The world No 2 began his day with a birdie at the 10th but followed that up with back-to-back bogeys. It was an up-and-down round for McIlroy who finished with five birdies and six bogeys to card a one-over 72. Scott and Lee finished at two-under.

Nick Voke carded an even par round after his third-placing last week.