RORY MCILROY HAS set the early pace with a “perfect round” on day one of the Open Championship.
McIlroy shot six birdies to take the clubhouse lead at Royal Liverpool with a bogey-free 66.
The world number eight leads by one shot from Matteo Manassero with five players — Brooks Koepka, Eduardo and Francesco Molinari, Jim Furyk and Sergio Garcia — a further shot back on four-under.
“It’s sort of does constitute the perfect round, especially in the first round of an Open,” the 25-year-old told BBC Sport afterwards. “I couldn’t ask for any more.”
I stuck to my gameplan, focused on the par fives and tried to pick up other shots. For the most part my golf ball was under control and I’m very happy.
The challenge now for McIlroy is to avoid another of the “Freaky Fridays” that have become his Achilles’ heel. His second-round scoring average is one of the lowest on the PGA Tour, ranked 181st out of 190.
Last week he set a new course record to lead the Scottish Open after the first day but followed up with second-round 78 and plummeted down the leaderboard.
“I’m playing well, swinging the club really nicely, holed some nice putts and I’ll try to continue to do that and hopefully have another solid round tomorrow,” he added.
I won’t approach it differently.
The news was almost as good for Shane Lowry who – despite being one-over through nine – finished with a 68 and a share of third place.
The 27-year old Offaly native took an aggressive approach on the back nine and it paid dividends despite the worsening conditions.
He shares third spot with no fewer than six other golfers including Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia world number one, Adam Scott.
Tiger Woods, playing in his first Major of the season, is three shots off the lead. Woods, who started his round with back-to-back bogeys, fired five birdies in six holes on the back nine to finish on three-under-par.
Darren Clarke finished the day on level par 72 while Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell disappointed with rounds of two-over 74.
– First published 15.05
The League of Ireland is in a sorry state. This carry on is is not going away. As a Drogheda United we know more than most what its like when ones club chases the rainbow. How any player in the lower echelons of League of Ireland think its a good idea to be a footballer in Ireland is beyond me. All of these players will be out of contract at the end of the season, claim the dole and then go back to earning peanuts again. Its hardly a long term career plan. The FAI should use the their competition as a measure of how they as an association are performing….well its failing miserably. I’d love to see it get better, even to see it get to a Scottish standard with stadiums, facilities and televison deals would be enough but we are light years away from that.
@Patrick McHugh: so long as we keep ploughing our money into the EPL and the plastic paddy’s up north then we will never have a decent domestic league. Always love coming on here and seeing guys who proclaim to be Irish fans but will then on an EPL thread announce themselves as fans of UTD or Liverpool. The FAI don’t help though that much is true. If ever proof we’re needed then just look at the photos of Delaney or Mo’N in Inchicore poring over plans for the Richmond Bowl and on TV saying how good it will be for the game here. Oh, wait you can’t, Because they don’t exist!
@David Lawlor: Hi David, what do you mean by ‘ploughing money into the EPL and the plastic paddy up north’?
@Sean McFadden: Spending millions on trips to England and Glasgow Celtic. Non Irish teams.
@David Lawlor: Ok I get the EPL connect. The other part a reference to Hoops supporters from the North in particular?
@Sean McFadden: where does it say anything about people from the North? Very clearly talking about Celtic being north of England
fai imposes stoopid faux “licencing” bs scheeme on clubs wastes money on junkets 4 blazers & psuedo corporate fluff stuff (eg. Consultants) organization needs complete restructure & repurpose. Ireland’s soccer set up is unsustainable for long term ignoring grass roots development & proper investment in & development of local LofI &subsidiary league clubs & structures.
All our senior clubs have faced financial crises in recent times. The dundalks corks rovers etc included all hv faced financial catastrophe. FAI top brass response 2 ongoing recurring situations is 2 further distance itself from domestic scene.
Soccer is no.1 sport in ireland in terms of active players and reach, yet unlike other orgs like gaa irfu fai is appalingly run wthout proper strategic leadership or direction
When will the FAI realise that you can’t sustain a two division league system in this country and how many more teams have to go out of business for them to realize this and how do many of them get a licence year on year .Have one league with 14/ 16 teams but we all know its about money from UEFA ????????
@James Kelly: I think there’s some stipulation that you have to have at least 2 leagues to allow teams qualify for European competitions. I think
@Zossima: Nah, Gibraltar (the obvious one I could think of!) only have one division.
Love to see what that chancer Fran Gavin has to say about this.
It’s sad when this happens a club . Players have to be paid at the end of the day ! Some junior players are getting paid and they hold down jobs also , this is a stumbling block also to the clubs , why would a guy bother playing and travelling all around the country to train and play ! FAI have a lot of work to do when they get their heads out of the sand