Rory McIlroy overcame severe driving difficulties to post a one-under 70 in his opening round at the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush, leaving him three shots behind the five-way lead.
Despite hitting just two of 14 fairways in what ranked as his joint-most inaccurate driving round in major championship history, the Northern Irishman managed five birdies to stay firmly in contention.
McIlroy sits on one under par, trailing leaders Matt Fitzpatrick, Jacob Skov Olesen, Haotong Li, Harris English and Christian Bezuidenhout, who all reached four under on a tightly packed leaderboard that sees 31 players under par.
McIlroy's round began nervously when he sent his opening tee shot left into the rough, leading to a bogey. This echoed his 2019 nightmare at the same hole, though this time the ball stayed in bounds.
Reuters
|Rory McIlroy has remained positive despite an inconsistent first day at The Open
He quickly recovered with a birdie at the par-five second and added further gains at the fifth, seventh and tenth holes to reach three under par, just one shot off the pace.
However, his driving woes caught up with him around the turn.
JUST IN: Daniel Dubois told masterplan on how to beat Oleksandr Usyk: 'He has to abuse him'
He dropped shots at the 11th, made a costly three-putt bogey at the par-five 12th, and bogeyed the 14th to slip back to level par.
The Northern Irishman was surrounded by enormous galleries throughout his round, with thousands of fans creating a wall of noise around Royal Portrush.
"I feel the support of an entire country out there, which is a wonderful position to be in, but at the same time, you don't want to let them down," McIlroy said.
"So there's that little bit of added pressure."
He acknowledged handling the occasion better than during his missed cut in 2019.
"I felt like I dealt with it really well today," he added.
"Certainly dealt with it better than I did six years ago. I was just happy to get off to a good start and get myself into the tournament."
A birdie at the 17th helped McIlroy finish his round positively.
READ MORE: Cyclist, 19, dies after hitting speed bump during Giro della Valle d'Aosta
Reuters
|Rory McIlroy ended the day brightly as he looks to win The Open
"I'm surprised four-under is leading. I thought someone might have gone out there and shoot six or seven today. Only three back with 54 holes to go, I'm really happy with where I am," he said.
World number one Scottie Scheffler also struggled off the tee, finding just three fairways, but posted a three-under 68 to sit one shot behind the leaders.
Former champions Shane Lowry and Phil Mickelson joined McIlroy on one under, whilst defending champion Xander Schauffele opened with a level-par 71.
Bryson DeChambeau faces a battle to make the cut after a seven-over 78.
LATEST SPORTS NEWS: