Rory McIlroy salvages even-par 71 in first round of The Open

HOYLAKE, England – Rory McIlroy, fresh off a win Sunday at the Genesis Scottish Open and returning to the course where he hoisted the claret jug nine years ago, avoided catastrophe on Royal Liverpool’s 18th hole and shot an even-par 71 in the opening round of The Open Championship.

He is five off the pace set by Tommy Fleetwood, Emiliano Grillo and amateur Christo Lamprecht, and was exhaling after a wild par on the 18th hole.

Going for the par 5 in two, McIlroy hit his second shot into a pot bunker short and left of the green. When he got there, he found his ball had rolled up against the face. After a long deliberation – playing partner Jon Rahm was facing the same situation in a different bunker – McIlroy tried to go out sideways but didn’t clear the bunker wall, the ball bouncing back into the sand and settling in one of his footprints.

Although he now had enough room to get the ball airborne and onto the green, he didn’t have room for a stance. With his right foot planted in the sand and his left leg bent at the knee and outside the bunker, McIlroy took his fourth stroke and watched as the ball cleared the steep face and stopped 10 feet past the pin.

He made the par putt and pumped his fist.

“I wouldn’t have been too happy walking off the 18th with a bogey, especially after the two shots I hit in there,” McIlroy said. “It’s just when you hit it into these bunkers, you’re sort of riding your luck at that point and hoping it’s not up against one of those riveted faces.

“Jon and I didn’t have much of a shot with our thirds, so then you’re just hoping to try to make par somehow and get out of there. I mean, overall, 2 over through 12, to get it back to even for the day, I’m pretty pleased with that.”

McIlroy won four majors by age 25 and hasn’t won one in the nine years since. In the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews last summer, he shared the 54-hole lead before taking 36 putts in the final round and finishing third. His runner-up at the U.S. Open last month was eerily similar.

He has six top-10 finishes in his last seven major starts, including two seconds and a third. He’s also on a run of six straight top-10 finishes on the PGA TOUR, most recently his win at the Genesis Scottish Open last weekend.

After his even-par round at Royal Liverpool on Thursday, he admitted he’d been hoping for more at the start of his day, but didn’t play particularly well on the front nine. He missed a par putt of 2 feet, 9 inches at the par-4 eighth hole. With the wind picking up on the back nine, he made a birdie putt from 41 1/2 feet on 14.

“I needed to stay patient out there,” he said. “It wasn’t the easiest of days. I’m still right in there; go out there in the morning and shoot something in the 60s and hopefully I’ll be right in the mix.”