New South Welshman Aron Price continues his excellent form and leads the Emirates Australian Open early in the first round.

Price, a member of the Web.com Tour in the United States, showed flashes of brilliance during last week’s Australian Masters, but he has buried that inconsistency at The Australian Golf Club to lead by two.

Price played the back nine first and turned at four under 32, but then made a bogey on the tough first hole.

But he has picked up that dropped shot at the third to return to four under.

There are already some familiar names on the leaderboard.

Brett Rumford, James Nitties and Rohan Blizard share second place at two under – but world No.1 Rory McIlroy is lurking ominously at one under.

McIlroy, playing with Geoff Ogilvy and local hero Matt Jones, hasn’t had the magic in his first round, but has managed to keep his score together on a tough day for scoring.

Ogilvy and Jones are both one over with two holes to play, while fan favourite Jarrod Lyle is in danger of slipping out of contention at four over par.

Only 10 players are under par, with the opening four-hole stretch a real test, playing a combined 1.3 shots over par to have the majority of the field in black numbers early.

Source: Golf Australia