Sleep-deprived and battling hay fever: Rory McIlroy’s chaotic Royal Melbourne welcome

The conditions at Royal Melbourne have done star golfer Rory McIlroy no favours in the first round of the Australian Open, as he battled hay fever, sleep deprivation and strong winds to shoot one-over par on Thursday.

A day after the Northern Irishman declared this week’s course was “probably not the best in Melbourne” and was inferior to Kingston Heath, he and playing partners Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee experienced just how treacherous it can be as Royal Melbourne exacted its revenge on several occasions.

The star Northern Irishman had to contend with huge crowds, thousands of flies and hot, northerly winds despite teeing off early, and by the eighth hole of his round, he needed help in battling the conditions which Scott described as some of the most difficult he had ever encountered.

McIlroy was handed a pill by his private security guard Andy after walking off the 17th tee box, which McIlroy later declared was an antihistamine.

“I’m going to take it easy [and not practise], I really struggled with hay fever today. I took a Benadryl, and it made me a bit drowsy, so I might go take a nap,” he said after his round.

McIlroy had five birdies and six bogeys to card a one over par round of 72, despite a birdie on his first hole after teeing off early at 7.05am.

The superstar also said that he got up at 4am because he likes to get to the course between 2½ and three hours before his tee time.

Despite shooting over par, McIlroy was confident he wouldn’t be too far back from the top of the leaderboard come the end of the day’s play.

Queenslander Elvis Smylie, crafty New Zealander Ryan Fox and Mexican Carlos Ortiz carded incredible rounds of six-under 65 at either ends of the day to be joint leaders.

A much cooler day with a top of 25 degrees and minimal wind is forecast for Friday.

“It doesn’t look like anyone is going to get too far away today so I limited the damage and hopefully the conditions are a little bit better over the next few days and I can make a run,” he said.

“It was great, a wonderful atmosphere, and playing with Adam and Min Woo it was unbelievable.

“[It was] just 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 play a bit better over the next three days and give them a bit more to cheer about.”

McIlroy and Scott said ground staff had done an incredible job to allow the course to be so playable, given the heavy rain and strong winds that have hit it lately.

However, McIlroy, the reigning US Masters champion, warned greenkeepers not to cut the greens too closely, especially if the wind was going to stay up.

“The greens are getting firm, it’s a good thing they didn’t cut them today because the greens would have been unplayable,” he said.

Scott, who was beaming following his round of two under, was effusive about the large crowds at Royal Melbourne.

“It was a great day. Playing with Rory and Min and fighting to get to the 10th tee this morning was good fun and the course held up well, even in some of the most challenging winds I’ve probably ever played out here,” Scott said.

The crowds were a talking point on Thursday. You know it isn’t your average Australian Open when you see 2000 people queuing up at the front gates of Royal Melbourne at 6am.

The gates weren’t even close to being opened, but local golf tragics weren’t letting that stop them. They wanted their piece of McIlroy.

He had a roller-coaster start to his opening round at the course he on Wednesday described as “probably not the best course in Melbourne”. After a little over two hours on Thursday, he had carded three birdies, three pars and three bogeys through his first nine holes.

But back-to-back bogeys on holes 11 and 12 brought him back to reality and McIlroy was clearly struggling to read the pace of the greens.

Joining the tens of thousands of spectators on the course on Thursday were – at least, what it would have felt like for McIlroy – thousands of flies. He was caught on camera several times giving the pesky bugs the Australian salute of swatting them away.

On the 17th hole, after watching Scott duck-hook his tee shot left of the fairway, McIlroy took his driver out for the first time. Somehow, he managed to hit it even further left.

It gave the fans near the 13th green a rare treat, being able to watch two of the greatest golfers of this generation trying to scramble their way back on to the fairway.

Scramble they did. Both were able to make scratchy pars in front of one of the larger corporate marquees behind the 17th green. Lee made a birdie.

McIlroy overcooked his wedge for his approach on 18, with his ball ricocheting off the back wall to finish just off the green. But he made par and headed to the turn even.

His back nine included two birdies and three bogeys to put him one over, and better off for his first Royal Melbourne experience.

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