Troon swoon for Rory McIlroy in first round at The British Open Championship

TROON, Scotland – Rory McIlroy says he has taken solace in the thrum of daily life going on around him, others oblivious to his summer of frailty, so perhaps there was something to be gained as he looked up into the roaring sky.

McIlroy was in the 13th fairway after one of his better shots, a drive that rode the wind and came to rest 342 yards away. Overhead, a jumbo jet was making its final approach to Glasgow Prestwick Airport, flying into the teeth of that same wind, oblivious to McIlroy's plight at The 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon.

"It looks like it's floating," someone said.

McIlroy, already 5 over par, followed its path, then looked down at his ball. From just 116 yards he hit a poor flip wedge, leaving himself a 29-foot birdie putt, and slumped his head and shoulders. He would sign for a first-round 78, 7 over par, that was arguably the biggest surprise of the opening day, other than the new wind direction.

This was not how it was supposed to go.

After his agonizing runner-up finish at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst last month, when he bogeyed three of the last four holes – two with short misses on the greens – the best thing for McIlroy, Tiger Woods and others said, would be to get back in contention. Instead, McIlroy, seeking his long-awaited fifth major, double-bogeyed Troon's two most famous holes – the Postage Stamp par-3 eighth and the Railway par-4 11th – and seemed to shoot himself out of the tournament with his worst round since the first round of the 2021 PLAYERS (79).

"Felt like I was in reasonable enough shape being a couple over through 9," McIlroy said, "thinking that I could maybe get those couple shots back, try to shoot even par, something like that.

"Then hitting the ball out of bounds on 11," he continued, "making a double there..."

Both of his killing misses were to the right and made worse by the wind.

At the tiny eighth, his tee shot stayed on the green for about three seconds, then succumbed to gravity and rolled into the deep pot bunker right of the green. It took him two swipes in the sand to escape, and he two-putted for a 5. At the 11th hole, McIlroy sliced his tee shot out of bounds and onto the tracks on the eponymous Railway.

He was surprised, he said, by how difficult the course played, especially the back nine. He was surprised by the wind. He was surprised by how the punishment didn't always fit the crime.

"Your misses get punished a lot more this week than even last week or even, geez, any weeks," said McIlroy, whose T4 at the Genesis Scottish Open last week suggested some rust but not his terrible first round at Troon. "Whether you miss it in a fairway bunker or even the rough. The rough, the balls that I hit in the rough today, the lies were pretty nasty."

After opening the door for Bryson DeChambeau at the U.S. Open and leaving Pinehurst without comment, McIlroy went through with a previously planned vacation and disappeared into the maw of people in New York, walking the High Line. He had his cap on, AirPods in and was comforted that no one cared about the short putts he had missed.

At Troon on Thursday, he was again just a man in a sea of people, but he was hardly anonymous. At the par-3 14th hole, McIlroy, clad in all black save for a green collar poking up over the neck of his sweater, hit another lackluster tee shot, missing the green to the right. He shook his head.

"Let's go, Rory," said a man toting a drink carrier full of beers. "I still love you."

His friends laughed, and they went on with their day, disappearing into the throng of vape smoke and ice cream, umbrellas and outerwear, prams and backpacks. McIlroy got up and down for par.

If the fans could hoist him on their shoulders and carry him to absolution, well, it would have happened already at St. Andrews, Los Angeles Country Club, Pinehurst No. 2. Now, though, McIlroy's professional life has gotten complicated, for the residue of those close calls all but hangs in the air like the mist that fogged camera lenses Thursday.

Save for a birdie at the par-4 third hole, he looked completely out of sorts. He missed fairways with the driver and even when he tried to dial back with a long iron. He muttered to his caddie and looked to the heavens. You half expected the wind to blow his umbrella inside out like an anguished character in a movie set in his beloved Manhattan.

Two more bogeys, one after a rare left miss off the tee at the par-4 15th hole, one after he'd hit his tee shot into a pot bunker on 18, added up to a day best quickly forgotten. Players like world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth had played only a couple of holes, but already McIlroy was 10 shots behind early first-round leader Justin Thomas.

Did that mean he was out of the tournament? McIlroy considered the question. Paul Lawrie won the 1999 Open despite being 10 behind going into the last day. McIlroy, a student of golf history, could have mentioned this.

He did not.

"I mean, all I need to focus on is tomorrow and try to make the cut," he said – a staggering change of plans for a player who came into the week hoping to banish ghosts and chase history.