Rory McIlroy was left to rue windy conditions at The Open as his latest attempt to end his long-running major drought went up in flames after a nightmare seven-over-par opening round.
Making just his second appearance since his heartbreaking collapse at last month’s US Open, McIlroy made just one birdie on Thursday as rain and strong winds caused havoc at Royal Troon.
The Northern Irishman started his round with a bogey on the opening hole and, despite birdieing the third to get back to level par, saw his round unravel following an unfortunate double bogey at the signature ‘Postage Stamp;’ par-three eighth.
The disappointing round of 78 leaves the four-time major champion ten shots back of the early clubhouse lead and battling to avoid missing the cut a the Open for the first time since 2019.
‘A difficult day. I felt like I did okay for the first part of the round and then missed the green at the Postage Stamp there and left it in and made a double,’ a disheartened McIlroy reflected after the round.
‘The course was playing tough. The conditions are very difficult in a wind that we haven’t seen so far this week.
‘I guess when that happens, you play your practice rounds, you have a strategy that you think is going to help you get around the golf course, but then when you get a wind you haven’t played in, it starts to present different options and you start to think about maybe hitting a few clubs that you haven’t hit in practice.
‘Just one of those days where I just didn’t adapt well enough to the conditions.’
Even par through seven holes, McIlroy left his second shot in the bunker on the eighth hole and walked to the next tee with a costly double bogey.
Another dropped shot on the 10th was followed by a second double bogey of the round after a miscued tee shot on the par-four 11th landed on the railway line.
Unable to rediscover his usual accuracy off the tee, the 35-year-old dropped another shot at the 15th before a misplaced drive saw his ball find a fairway bunker on the last.
Scrambling for a closing par, McIlroy saw a seven-foot par putt slide by to sign off for a round of 78 and leave his hopes for the tournament hanging by a thread.
‘The conditions look like they’re going to be pretty similar again tomorrow and I have to do a better job in those conditions,’ he added.
‘I need to go out there and play better and try to shoot something under-par and at least be here for the weekend, if not try to put myself up the leaderboard a bit more and feel like I have half a chance.’
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