Rory McIlroy off to a disastrous start at British Open
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy looks for his ball in the long rough on the first hole during the first round of the British Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland on Thursday. Credit: AP/Peter Morrison
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — The anticipation was great for Rory McIlroy. The British Open was being held at a course, Royal Portrush, he has played since he was 10 years old, an hour’s drive from his home.
On Thursday morning, he hit his first shot in the 148th Open. Out of bounds left. With an iron. And the anticipation turned to dismay.
The ball even cracked the screen of a woman’s cellphone. McIlroy would end up making quadruple-bogey 8.
The disastrous start was equaled by a disastrous finish, a triple-bogey seven at 18. McIlroy, the local kid, one of the fans’ favorites, one of the betting favorites, shot an 8-over 79.
“Look, obviously it was a disappointing day,” McIlroy conceded. ‘‘I didn’t put it in the fairway enough to play. I kept saying in the press conference Wednesday, you need to put the ball in the fairway if you want to do well. I didn’t do that enough today.”
After the first — “A rough start,” he said, “but I showed some resilience” — McIlroy was 1 under for the next 14 holes. But he double-bogeyed the par-3 16th, three-putting from four feet, and took the seven on 18.
"The first hole,” McIlroy said, “almost had a settling effect. It was like, well, that’s the worst thing that can happen. Put your head down and keep going.
“I actually hit the ball out of bounds right [Wednesday] in the practice round. That might have been in my head a little bit, not sort of wanting to leak it right.”
Duval posts a 91
David Duval was exempt as the winner of the 2001 Open. He’s 47 and spends most of his time commenting for Golf Channel. He birdied the first two holes, but then took an eight on No. 5, a 14 on No. 7 and a seven on No. 17.
On the way to the 14 on the par-5 7th, he lost two balls and played a wrong ball, running up a slew of penalty shots on top of a slew of bad shots adding up to a double digit score. He shot 49-42 to finish the round with a 91.
“It was fairly unsettling,” Duval said. “I came here with fairly high hopes.” He is suffering from tendinitis in his left arm, but said, “I wasn’t hurt enough not to finish. I post my score.”
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