After posting a miserable opening round at The Open, Rory McIlroy acknowledged he was unable to adjust to the challenging conditions at Royal Troon.
McIlroy’s chances of winning his first major championship in ten years were severely damaged on Thursday as he finished with a seven-over par 78.
At the U.S. Open last month, the Northern Irishman came perilously close to capturing a fifth major championship, but he faltered on the last few holes.
Even though McIlroy took a break from the game to regroup, he struggled to get going on the first round in Scotland and, in windy conditions, hit a shot so deep into the rough on the eleventh that onlookers had to assist in finding the misplaced ball.
“Yeah, a difficult day,” McIlroy said.
“I felt like I did OK for the first part of the round and then missed the green at the Postage Stamp there and left it in [the bunker] and made a double.
“But still, I felt like I was in reasonable enough shape being a couple over through nine, thinking that I could maybe get those couple shots back, try to shoot even par, something like that.
“You think your plan will work, but when you get a breeze you haven’t used in practice, you start to consider hitting a few clubs you haven’t hit in practice. Simply put, I didn’t adjust to the circumstances well enough.
“Whether you miss it in the rough or in a fairway bunker, you get punished much more this week than you did last week [at the Scottish Open].” The balls I struck in the rough today had some pretty nasty lies in them.
Not only did McIlroy suffer on the opening day of play, but Bryson DeChambeau, who defeated McIlroy at Pinehurst, also struggled, managing five overs.
“I could have thrown in the towel after nine and been like, I’m going home,” he stated. It’s a challenging test that I’ve never taken before. When it’s nice and not windy, I can do it.”
Xander Schauffle (two under), Justin Thomas (three under), and Shane Lowry (five under) all had far more successful rounds, though.
Daniel Brown, meanwhile, became the unexpected overnight leader. With six birdies and a bogey-free 65, the Englishman led by one going into the second round.
