South African Michael Hollick made the third hole-in-one of the new DP World Tour season on the seventh at Royal Melbourne Golf Club on Thursday as he reached two-under-par in tricky, windy conditions in the opening round of the Crown Australian Open.

Starting his round on the 10th, Hollick struggled on his opening nine with two birdies and three bogeys. But he made things right with a birdie on the third after the turn and then the ace with a pitching wedge to sit in a 14-strong group at two-under, four off the lead and three clear of Masters champion Rory McIlroy.

Elvis Smylie, Ryan Fox and Carlos Ortiz shared a two-shot lead with their opening six-under-par 65s. There has been much excitement about the national open making a return to one of the world’s most revered layouts for the first time in 34 years but it was the weather rather than the course that stole the show in round one. And it was Smylie, Fox and Ortiz who tackled them best, and they led the way from Cameron Adam, Clement Charmasson and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.

Smylie, a winner on home soil during last season’s Opening Swing at the BMW Australian PGA Championship, overcame an opening bogey with seven birdies and he was the man to set the early target. Kiwi Fox then made eight birdies to join him at the summit before Mexico’s Ortiz eagled the 17th to catapult himself to the top of the leaderboard.

There were five players on three-under in a share of seventh, and Hollick shared 12th with 13 other players, including Australian Min Woo Lee and Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Follett-Smith.

Next best of the South Africans in the field was Robin Williams, who opened with a one-under-par 70 for a share of 26th. Oliver Bekker carded a four-over 75, and Ryan van Velzen was on five-over-par.