SANDWICH – Rory McIlroy was brought back down to earth with a bump at the 140th British Open on Thursday, finishing the day six shots off the lead after a patchy opening round.
The 22-year-old Ulsterman never looked like reproducing the form which saw him capture the US Open last month and was always struggling to get to grips with Royal St George’s windswept lay-out.
McIlroy eventually finished with a one-over-par 71 — by no means a disaster on a brute of a course which is likely to claim its fair share of victims — but a score which ought to slow the runaway train of “Rory-mania.”
The young Northern Irishman has not played competitively since his dazzling victory at Congressional last month, and ring-rustiness was apparent almost immediately as he bogeyed twice in the opening three holes.
McIlroy, playing alongside South African veteran Ernie Els and rising American star Rickie Fowler, was given a rousing reception on the first tee by an expectant gallery but was rapidly in trouble.
A solid enough tee shot on the 444-yard, par-four first left him on the edge of the fairway but his second went sailing 40 feet past the pin.
Fowler then piled the pressure on the Northern Irishman by draining a monster putt from a near-identical lie at the back of the green.
McIlroy was unable to match the Californian youngster’s effort however, misreading the line and nervously over-hitting his putt by 10 feet. He subsequently missed his putt to save par.
McIlroy’s radar was askew again on the 417-yard par-four second, his tee shot landing in the rough on the right of the fairway. Again he misjudged his second, sending it skidding 30 feet past the pin.
He calmed his nerves with a putt which left him with a simple par, but the respite was only fleeting as the awkward 240-yard par-three third loomed.
Yet another overhit shot, this time off the tee, landed McIlroy in the thick sloping rough off the back of the green. A poor chip left him well short of the hole, and he duly missed an eight-footer to bogey.
Fears of a Masters-style meltdown were allayed over the next three holes however as he steadied the ship with a trio of pars.
But a precious chance to pick up a shot was squandered at the par-five seventh, where he missed the sort of six-foot birdie putt he had been sinking with his eyes closed at Congressional four weeks ago.
An eight-foot birdie putt on the eighth brought welcome relief however before a par left him one over at the turn.
Yet hopes of a sustained charge through the back nine foundered, and another costly bogey on the 13th saw him drop back to two over before he recovered with a birdie on the 17th.
McIlroy could have finished the day level par had he not missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the last, only for his effort to drift wide.