McIlroy Laments Costly Mistakes After Disappointing Start

McIlroy carded six bogeys in an untidy opening round at Royal Birkdale

After a wild first round of 72, which left him seven strokes behind unexpected leader Jackson Suber, Rory McIlroy acknowledged that "too many stupid mistakes" kept him from having a solid start to the Open Championship.

During a round that included four birdies and six bogeys, McIlroy had a trying day on Royal Birkdale's greens, hoping to add a second Claret Jug to the second Masters title he won in April.

The six-time major winner mixed three birdies with two bogey sixes over his last six holes after missing three four-foot putts in four holes from the eighth.

"The two bogeys on the par-fives weren't great and I struggled the first two holes to get the speed of the greens," said the 2014 Open champion.

"I felt like they were very inconsistent, just because some parts of the greens are still alive and growing and other parts are really dead."

McIlroy, who finished joint fourth at the 2017 Open at Birkdale, added: "[I] sort of felt like I got it going a little bit, but just too many stupid mistakes. But every time I made a stupid mistake, thankfully I made a birdie to sort of keep myself in it.

"[I'm] not too far away. Hopefully we'll get the better conditions [on Thursday] and maybe the greens are a little bit smoother in the morning."

After round one, each of the previous 26 Open winners was within five strokes of the lead.

When he tees off on Friday at 10:09 BST, McIlroy, who overcame a seven-shot deficit in the first round to win the 2025 Masters, thinks he can get back into contention.

"If you look at the discrepancy between the scoring this morning and the scoring this afternoon, it looks like that's going to be flipped tomorrow with the conditions," he added.

"Hopefully I can take advantage of the more benign conditions in the morning and shoot under par and get back in it."

McIlroy acknowledged that a few unsuccessful early tries on the green caused him to struggle to trust his reads on the short missed putts that put him on the back foot.

"I feel like I missed a couple early on that looked like they were going to break one way and they actually went another way, and then when you get the next one, you're over it and it's just very hard to trust that the ball is going to do what you think it's going to do.

"Then you maybe don't make quite as committed of a stroke. It seems like when it gets like that you just keep leaving yourself four-footers.

"I left one to pretty much tap-in range on nine to make a birdie. Then I missed three four-footers in the space of four holes, and it's tough to get out of that and stay committed to what you're trying to do on the greens."