But the Australian golfer used a double bogey as fuel to respond with an eagle and take an early lead after scoring 9-under-par 62 on day one of the New Zealand Open, at Millbrook, yesterday.
Crowe hit nine birdies on the Remarkables course and looked in good form until he stumbled on the 13th hole.
But he made no mistake on the following hole.
He got rolling again, hitting the ball down the right side of the fairway for it to run nicely past the bunker to the front flag.
It spoke to the 23-year-old’s resilience to bounce back quickly.
"I got off to a nice start," Crowe said.
"I definitely had a lot of things go my way today. I think to shoot those rounds you have to.
"After that double bogey to back it up ... it was a nice day out there.
"I had the putter going, so it was nice to keep the momentum going after that one."
Crowe, who has missed the last three cuts for tournaments back home, is competing in his second open and has a nice buffer as he tees off from Coronet today.
Australian James Marchesani came home firing, finishing 8-under-par 63 on the Coronet course yesterday afternoon.
Australians Kevin Yuan, Lucas Herbert and Korean Guntaek Koh sit at 7-under-par.
The winner of the Open will book their entry to the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in a nice added incentive.
"I think that’s on everyone’s mind," Yuan said.
"But for me, I’ve just got to focus on the shot that I have and just day by day ... don’t really focus too much on the result, just focus on what I can control."
Former Open champion Michael Hendry — the last Kiwi to win the tournament, in 2017 — and Josh Geary are the leading New Zealand golfers, finishing 5-under-par 66.
"It was pretty solid for the most part," Hendry said.
"I’m hitting it really well off the tee, as long as I can keep that going, I shouldn’t put myself in too much trouble."
Geary bounced back with three consecutive birdies after a bogey on the 13th on the Remarkables.
He looked forward to testing himself on Coronet, a course that was more familiar to him over the past few years.
"I’ve been out here enough, I know what to do," Geary said.
"You’ve just got to keep your foot down and make a lot of birdies," Geary said.
Kiwi Danny Lee — returning to the Open for the first time in 16 years — had a rough start to his tournament finishing 4-over-par.
Other Kiwis Daniel Hillier and Sam Jones finished 3-under-par.
Defending champion Takahiro Hataji, of Japan, scored 2-under-par.
Kazuki Higa leads the Japanese group with 6-under-par.
