The world No. 2 had briefly moved to two under before a costly double-bogey at the 13th threatened to derail his round
Rory McIlroy remains within striking distance at the Irish Open after surviving a marathon opening day at Trump International Doonbeg.
The defending champion endured more than six hours on the course as relentless wind and repeated delays made it almost impossible to build any momentum. With darkness eventually halting play for a number of players, McIlroy was among those forced to dig deep simply to stay in the tournament’s early mix.
He emerged with a hard-earned one-under-par 69, leaving him four shots off the pace.
“It’s tough,” McIlroy said. “I can’t recall a round of golf that’s taken that long before.”
The world No. 2 had briefly moved to two under before a costly double-bogey at the 13th threatened to derail his round. Instead, he steadied himself immediately, closing with four pars and a birdie to finish under par.
McIlroy admitted the mistake was typical of a round in which he struggled to find any rhythm.
“It wouldn’t be a round of golf for me if there wasn’t a double-bogey in there somewhere,” he said.
“But I responded well with four pars and a birdie coming in. I just need to keep those stupid mistakes off the card for the rest of the week.”
Despite the frustration, McIlroy believes his game is moving in the right direction after a prolonged search for consistency following his Masters triumph.
He has spent recent weeks working on his swing and arrived at the Irish Open encouraged by the progress he had made.
“It’s definitely better,” he said. “I was obviously working on my swing after the Tour Championship. I put some good work in and felt like I was coming here definitely on the right path.”
But conditions at Doonbeg demanded something different.
With the wind howling and play repeatedly interrupted, McIlroy said technical thoughts had to take a back seat.
“When you play conditions like this, you have to sort of throw all of that out the window and just go on feel and instinct,” he said.
For McIlroy, the bigger picture remains positive. A six-hour slog, a double-bogey and a frustrating lack of rhythm still produced a sub-par score — and, crucially, kept the defending champion firmly in contention with three rounds remaining.
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