Rory McIlroy lamented dead grass and stupid mistakes as he was fried on day one at baking Birkdale, writes Craig Swan from The 2026 Open Championship. The World No.2 made a troubled start to his bid for a seventh Major victory.
McIlroy's Frustrating Opening Round
McIlroy fumed at his own errors on the greens with a string of missed short putts and errant shots leading to clear frustration. The Grand Slam king bogeyed five of his first 14 holes and a second six of the day on his penultimate hole when he ended up on one knee during the calamity whilst hitting a bunker shot plunged him further away from the leaders.
McIlroy managed to rally for an important last-hole birdie, but still ended the day languishing down the field and seven shots behind Jackson Suber as he stumbled to a stuttering 72.
McIlroy's Assessment of the Round
He said: “I'll start with the positives. I drove the ball incredibly well. 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.
"I struggled the first two holes to get the speed of the greens. I felt like they were very inconsistent just because some parts of the greens are still alive and growing and other parts have went really dead.
"I got it going a little bit, but 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.
"Not too far away. Hopefully we'll get the better conditions tomorrow and maybe the greens are a little bit smoother in the morning. Go out there and shoot a good one and get myself right back in it for the weekend.
Putting Troubles and Learning
McIlroy's putting troubles were obvious and he said: "I feel like I missed a couple early on that looked like they were going to break one way and they actually went another way, and then when you get the next one, you're over it and it's just very hard to trust that the ball is going to do what you think it's going to do.
"Then you maybe don't make quite as committed of a stroke. 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 nine 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.
Outlook for the Weekend
McIlroy added: "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 get back in it.
"I felt like I learned quite a bit today about how the course is playing, but I'm not going to go back to the house and analyse it too much tonight. I made too many sloppy mistakes and just need to cut those out.
