McIlroy endures rollercoaster opening day at The Open
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland looks on following his tee shot on the first hole during Day One of the The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on July 16, 2026 in Southport, England. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy endured a rollercoaster day on the greens, but he produced a piece of magic at the 18th to scramble a 72 that leaves his Open Championship hopes intact — just — at testing Royal Birkdale.
The world number two was like Miss Moffat from the nursery rhyme: When he was good, he was very very good, but when he was bad, he was horrid.
On a day when the unheralded American Jackson Suber celebrated his first trip to Europe by firing a five-under 66 to lead by a shot from Sunjae Im and Dan Brown, McIlroy epitomised an up-and-down day for the big stars.
He was poor on and around the greens, ranking 145th of 156 players by the time he rolled in a four-footer for a superb closing birdie at the second hardest hole on the course.
But he was third for strokes gained from the tee and looking at the positives in the hope that more benign morning conditions will allow him to regain touch with the leaders.
“I drove the ball incredibly well,” he said. “I took the golf course on off the tee. Obviously with the positions that I put myself in off the tee, I feel like I obviously should have shot a better score. Played the hard holes well. Birdied 13, 15 and 18 on the back.”
Still there were problems on the greens that he needs to solve.
After dropping a shot at the par-three fourth, he missed a series of short putts around the turn— from just inside four feet for par at the seventh and for birdie at the eighth.
He responded by becoming the first player to drive the 415-yard ninth, two-putting for birdie there before three-putting from the fringe at the 10th, missing another four-footer before shedding another shot at the 11th.
He was second last in the 156-man field for putting at that stage but continued to mix the inspired with the careless coming home.
After rolling in a 24-footer for a birdie at the tough 13th, he took six at the par-five 14th, made two from 12 feet at the 206-yard 15th, but then racked another clumsy bogey six, missing a six-footer for par at the 17th after pitching into sand.
“The two bogeys on the par-5s wasn't great and I struggled the first two holes to get the speed of the greens,”he said.”I felt like they were very inconsistent, just because some parts of the greens are still alive and growing and other parts have gone really dead.”
He added:”It seems like when it gets like that on a day like today, you just keep leaving yourself four-footers. I left one to pretty much tap-in range on 9 to make a birdie. Then I missed three four-footers in the space of four holes, and it's tough to get out of that and stay committed to what you're trying to do on the greens.
“Sort of felt like I got it going a little bit, but yeah, just too many stupid mistakes. But every time I made a stupid mistake, thankfully I made a birdie to sort of keep myself in it.”
His genius remains intact, however, and after finishing with an incredible birdie at the 18th, where a 197-yard seven iron kicked kindly off the shoulder of a bunker to just four feet, he feels he is still in the tournament.
“I think so,” he said. “I think you can. If you look at the discrepancy between the scoring this morning and the scoring this afternoon, it looks like that's going to be flipped tomorrow with the conditions again.
“Hopefully I can take advantage of the more benign conditions in the morning and shoot one under par and get back in it.”
Shane Lowry was the best of the Irish, overcoming three bogeys in a row on the back nine by finishing birdie-birdie-par for a 69 that will do his confidence no harm.
As for the rest of the Irish, it was a mixed bag.
Tom McKibbin described his one-over 71 as “okay” as Darren Clarke shot 73 and Cork amateur David Howard signed for a creditable 74.
While disappointed with his score and some "sloppy" approach play, Howard was buoyed by incredible travelling support from Fota Island.
"It was mad,” he said of the huge roar that greeted him on the first tee. “I was nervous enough as it was, but I think it made me more nervous, if anything. Had to give them a motion to quiet down. It was unbelievable.”
Amateur champion Stuart Grehan missed too many fairways and signed for a 77 while Pádraig Harrington (54) had four three-putts in 10-over 80, his highest score at The Open in his sixth start of a marathon eight-week run.
It was also his joint-highest score in a Major, matching his second-round 80 in the US Open at Oakmont in 2007.
