Every player in the Emirates Australian Open is now on course, and already there have been dramatic changes to the leaderboard.
Overnight leader Greg Chalmers, twice the Open Champion, started disastrously making bogey at his opening two holes, but surely he couldn’t have been overawed as he is a seasoned player.
But, the new leader is young American Jordan Spieth who birdied two of his first three holes to move to three under the card.
Spieth leads by one from a quartet of players – Brett Rumford, amateur Todd Sinnott, Adam Crawford and McIlroy- while Adam Scott is at three under after opening with a birdie followed by three straight pars. Chalmers is also three under.
Huge galleries surround both the McIlroy and Scott groups on a perfect afternoon for golf.