Rory McIlroy seven off the lead after opening day at Crown Australian Open

RORY MCILROY IS seven shots off the lead after an opening round of one-over 72 at the Crown Australian Open on the DP World Tour in Melbourne.

McIlroy started on the 10th and opened his first round with a birdie. But back-to-back bogeys derailed his start before recovering with birdies on the 14th and 15th.

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His mixed round continued with another dropped shot on the 16th and added three more bogeys on the front nine, along with another brace of birdies on the second and third.

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Australia’s Elvis Smylie and New Zealander Ryan Fox currently share the lead on six-under along with Carlos Ortiz of Mexico.

Masters champion McIlroy is back in Australia for the first time in 11 years hoping to chase a second Stonehaven Cup to go with his 2013 victory over Adam Scott on the final hole at Royal Sydney.

“It was a rollercoaster day,” McIlroy said after his first round.

“It felt like any time I made a birdie or two, I’d then make a bogey or two. It felt like one of those days, it was like, ‘What side of par am I going to finish on?’ I ended up being over.

“But it wasn’t terrible. I hit it in a couple of bad spots and a couple of early three-putts as well. But it was tricky conditions. It’s not as if anyone’s really getting away out there so [I] limited the damage and hopefully conditions are a little bit better tomorrow and I can get after it a bit more.

“There’s a lot of heavy crosswinds and depending on what you want to do with your shot, that crosswind can hurt it or help it. I got caught out a little bit at times today, you just have to keep the ball down. The nice thing is you can run the ball up onto these greens, that makes it play a little bit easier in the wind.”