Rory McIlroy has started his quest for back-to-back Australian Open titles in Sydney.

The world No.1 teed off at The Australian Golf Club on Thursday morning alongside fellow former winner Geoff Ogilvy and Matt Jones, a career-long member of the revamped Jack Nicklaus-designed layout.

After staging a memorable final-day battle with Adam Scott to win the Stonehaven Cup last year, McIlroy says fans shouldn’t expect a two-way duel this time around.

“There’s a lot of good players, a lot of good Australians are playing,” said the world No.1.

“Jordan Spieth’s obviously here, I’m playing with Matt Jones and this is basically his home golf course, so he’s going to have a good shot at it.

“But it’s a strong field. It’s definitely not a two-horse race.”

McIlroy only played his first full round at the course during Wednesday’s pro-am and said mastering the greens – and contending with any wind that might strike – was the key to contending.

“I think it’s pretty much right in front of you,” he said.

“It’s a little more generous off the tee than Royal Sydney was last year but it’s very tricky around the greens; there’s a lot of run-off.

“It’s typical Jack Nicklaus design with a lot of humps and bumps in the greens.

“It’s going to be a good test, depending on how the wind is and if it gets up during the week, it’s going to be quite tricky out there.”

Scott opens his championship quest just after midday AEST with Spieth and newly-crowned Australian Masters champion Nick Cullen.

“I haven’t played here that much in the past. Obviously there’s been a lot of work done and they’ve presented a beautiful golf course for us this week,” said the world No.3.

“My feeling is it’s certainly going to favour the longer hitters this week. There’s no rough out there.

“It seems like it just hasn’t grown in for them yet but hopefully with some pretty long straight driving, I’ll be able to take advantage of a few holes.

“The wind is the definitive this week. With no rough, so that’s not going to penalise any stray shots as much as it normally would, but the winds still will.”