Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott went toe-to-toe for the 2013 Australian Open. A repeat is on the cards 12 years later

Rory McIlroy was bound to attract the masses when he stepped out at Royal Melbourne Golf Club this week, but he will be joined by two local stars to start his quest.

It has been 12 years since McIlroy won the Australian Open at the Royal Sydney Golf Club in a tournament that presented almost like a match play event between two superstars of the game - the Irishman and Adam Scott. The following year McIlroy finished equal fifteenth and has not returned since.

The Irish champion is the red hot favourite to win the 2025 edition of the tournament, where he will face the best of Australia's golfers.

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McIlroy is one of six golfers who have won all four majors in the history of the sport and has spent more than 100 weeks atop the world rankings.

If the Irishman's success wasn't enough to see the guarantee of a huge gallery, he will be accompanied by Min Woo Lee and fellow Masters champion Adam Scott to start.

The trio will tee of at 7.05am on Thursday from the 10th tee before returning to the course on Friday at 12.05pm.

But for Scott, the presence of McIlroy in his group has sparked memories of the last time the pair faced off at the tournament back in 2013.

Scott led McIlory by a shot when the pair took to the final hole at the Royal Sydney, but a bogey on the 18th opened the door for a dramatic twist and McIlroy did his part with a birdie to win.

"That was not the greatest memory for me, it all just slipped away so quickly on that final hole," Scott recalled of the meeting.

"When you are on these great courses and playing under pressure, the smallest of errors can happen like that.

"I put myself in a spot that was a little tricky to get up and down and all of a sudden the momentum was with Rory on the green and he holed the putt and won.

"I also find it, I've seen it many times, players come down to Australia late in the year and really turn it around.

"Rory would be the first to admit 2013 was not his best year and coming down and playing and having that win set him up for 2014 which might be one of his best years.

"The confidence you get from winning any tournament, it is hard to fake that confidence."

Where is the Australian Open?

The Australian Open is set to make a highly anticipated return back to the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Blackrock, Victoria for the first time in 34 years.

It is the record-equalling 17th time the venue has hosted the tournament, with Australian great Wayne Riley the last player to win the Australian Open at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club back in 1991.

Watch the 2025 Australian Open live and free on Nine and 9Now.

How to watch the 2025 Australian Open?

The Australian Open will be broadcast live and free on Nine and 9Now.

Coverage will begin at 7am AEDT on 9Gem on Thursday, switching to Nine at midday. All the action on Friday, Saturday and Sunday will start from 12pm AEDT on Nine.

Watch the 2025 Australian Open live and free on Nine and 9Now.

Prize money for the Australian Open

All competing at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club will be hoping they get their hands on some of the $2 million prize purse that is on offer for the tournament.

It is estimated that the winner will receive just shy of $300,000.

Odds for the Australian Open

Courtesy of Sportsbet at the time of publication.

$6 | Rory McIlroy

$14 | David Puig, Joaquin Niemann and Min Woo Lee.

$15 | Si Woo Kim

$17 | Adam Scott and Marc Leishman

$20 | Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen

$23 | Carlos Ortiz and Sebastian Munoz

$26 | Cameron Smith

Past tournament winners

2024: Ryggs Johnsto

2023: Joaquin Niemannn

2022: Adrian Meronk

2021 / 2020: Not played due to the COVID-19 pandemic

2019: Matt Jones

2018: Abraham Ancer

2017: Cameron Davis

2016: Jordan Spieth

2015: Matt Jones

Hours of play (AEDT)

7am to 5pm | Thursday, December 4

12pm - 5pm | Friday, December 5 to Sunday, December 7

Tee times for round one

All times are in AEDT. Times will be one hour earlier for all AEST states.

First tee

6.45am | Tim Hart, Jak Carter and Jack Yule

6.55am | James Conran, Blake Proverbs and Adri Arnaus

7.05am | Matthew Baldwin, Davis Bryant and Alexander Simpson

7.15am | Rafael Campos, Richard Green and Curtis Luck

7.25am | Jordan Doull, Nathan Kimsey and Haydn Barron

7.35am | David Micheluzzi, Oliver Bekker and Eddie Pepperell

7.45am | Ben Campbell, Freddy Schott and Adam Bland

8.05am | Daniel Young, Joshua Berry and Tyler Hodge

8.15am | Rod Pampling, Brett Rumford and Fifa Laopakdee

8.25am | Ben Henkel, William Bruyeres and Gregorio De Leo

8.35am | Sadom Kaewkanjana, Andres German Gallegos and Corey Lamb

8.45am | Siddharth Nadimpalli, Andrew Evans and Blake Phillips

11.45am | Anthony Quayle, Karl Vilips and Jason Scrivener

11.55am | Josele Ballester, Matt McCarty and Romain Langasque

12.05pm | Ryan Fox, Si Woo Kim and Joaquin Niemann

12.15pm | Lucas Herbert, Daniel Hillier and David Puig

12.25pm | Cameron Davis, Abraham Ancer and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen

12.35pm | Wenyi Ding, Matt Jones and Ryo Hisatsune

12.45pm | Rafa Cabrera Bello, Jye Halls and Kazuma Kobori

12.55pm | Carlos Ortiz, Bernd Wiesberger and Wade Ormsby

1.05pm | Jack Buchanan, Tom Vaillant and Maximilian Steinlechner

1.15pm | Lachlan Barker, Matthew Griffin and Stefano Mazzoli

1.25pm | Benjamin Follett-Smith, Dylan Gardner and Rocco Repetto Taylor

1.35pm | Jack Munro, Robin Williams and Ryan Van Velzen

1.45pm | Tapio Pulkkanen, Nathan Barbieri and Jason Norris

10th tee

6.45am | Matias Sanchez, Austin Bautista and Jeffrey Guan

6.55am | Alex Fitzpatrick, Geoff Ogilvy and Ryan Peake

7.05am | Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee and Rory McIlroy

7.15am | Elvis Smylie, Danny Willett and Cameron Smith

7.25am | Joel Girrbach, Marc Leishman and Ugo Coussaud

7.35am | Charley Hoffman, Harrison Crowe and Sebastian Munoz

7.45am | Nick Voke, Caleb Surratt and Andrew Martin

7.55am | Jordan Gumberg, Jack Thompson and Andrew Johnston

8.05am | Quim Vidal, Josh Geary and Connor McKinney

8.15am | James Marchesani, Quinnton Croker and Hunter Logan

8.25am | Jasper Stubbs, Andreas Halvorsen and Filippo Cello

8.35am | Chris Malec, Will Florimo and Jay Mackenzie

11.45am | Jack Senior, Jake McLeod and Aaron Cockerill

11.55am | Christopher Wood, Kaito Sato and Renato Paratore

12.05pm | Brad Kennedy, Sean Crocker and Brendan Jones

12.15pm | Nicolas Colsaerts, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Jediah Morgan

12.25pm | Sebastian Garcia, Sam Bairstow and Cameron John

12.35pm | David Law, Kerry Mountcastle and Ben Eccles

12.45pm | Greg Chalmers, Harry Takis and Ricardo Gouveia

12.55pm | Peter Lonard, Stephen Allan and Stephen Leaney

1.05pm | Daniel Gale, Shubhankar Sharma and Tobias Jonsson

1.15pm | Simon Hawkes, Clement Charmasson and Daniel Rodrigues

1.25pm | James Morrison, Cameron Adam and Phoenix Campbell

1.35pm | Michael Hollick, Clement Sordet and Jimmy Zheng

1.45pm | Brady Watt, Ollie Marsh and Lincoln Tighe