Rory McIlroy didn’t kick off his play at The Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club in the way he may have wanted to. In fact, it couldn’t have gone much worse.
McIlroy, widely considered to be the favorite to win and playing in his native Northern Ireland, hit his tee shot on the first hole out of bounds and ended up with a quadruple-bogey 8 on the par-4, 421-yard hole.
Statistics show that tt’s the first time McIlroy started a major championship with a double-bogey or worse since the 2012 Masters.,
“I’m just treating this like any other Open Championship,” McIlroy said, according to ESPN’s Mark Schlabach.
“I’ve played well here for the last few years. I’ve played well on this golf course. So I’ve just got to go out and hit the shots and stay in the present. If I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, hopefully by Sunday night that will be good enough.”