Rory McIlroy reacts to promising Amgen Irish Open start to lead the home charge
"Jeez, any time you can shoot three-under around this place, you have to be happy,"
No need to Mourne this time for Rory McIlroy as he got his Amgen Irish Open challenge off to a fast start.
When this tournament last came to Royal County Down in 2015, McIlroy was the host. He suffered a first round nightmare, carding a scarcely believable 80.
Watched by a huge gallery, the home favourite endured one of his worst-ever mornings in golf as he rattled off nine bogeys and failed to produce one birdie on the world-famous links.
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It was a different story yesterday evening as, with just over an hour of sunlight still in the sky over Newcastle, the 35-year-old rolled in an eight-foot birdie putt - his sixth of the day - for a three-under par 68 that positions him nicely for the battle ahead.
Crucially, McIlroy stayed patient and remained disciplined, even though he three-putted twice and made three bogies - including back to back dropped shots on 14 and 15.
That could have been the cue for the wheels to come off but, instead, he responded with three birdies on his way in, much to the delight of the supporters who held on to cheer him home - especially the last one, after he pushed a long-range eagle effort too far for comfort past the hole.
McIlroy is joint fourth overall, two shots adrift of overnight leader Todd Clement - whose five-under par round that included an eagle and five birdies was almost embellished by a hole in one on the 7th, his 16th hole.
After the brutal conditions that prevailed on Wednesday during the Pro-Am, it was no surprise that the course set-up was benign and with generous pin positions and McIlroy was among those who took advantage as he birdied all three of the par fives.
His round began in cold and wet conditions but he still birdied the par-five first. By the end, the wind had died down enough for him to sprinkle some stardust on the tournament with his run of birdies.
However, the 35-year-old will be concerned that his distance control with a wedge or short iron in his hand let him down at times, with several opportunities wasted as approach shots fell well short.
"Jeez, any time you can shoot three-under around this place, you have to be happy," said McIlroy, whose second round starts at 8am on Friday.
"Conditions were pretty tough early on and then the wind seemed to settle a bit over those last few holes so it was nice to take advantage of that and play the last few holes the way I did."
While Séamus Power and Padraig Harrington paid the price for their struggles on the green - Power carded a 74, Harrington a 73 - Shane Lowry battled his putting issues to finish with a birdie and a one-over par total.
The Clara man was a little out of sorts but is still well in the tournament and will hope for better when he tees off his second round at 7.40am.
"Overall I'm happy enough," he said. "Look, obviously I would have liked to have made a couple more birdies.
"But it's hard to make birdies out there, it's pretty hard to get it close and I thought I should have birdied a couple over the last three holes, I played them really nicely, 16, 17 and 18.
"But one-over isn't the end of the world, so I'll get out here in the morning and try to get back in red figures, that's the game plan."
Tom McKibbin, who played alongside McIlroy, also closed with a birdie for three-over par.
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