Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy hit a perfect tee shot Thursday that came to halt after clanking off a stone. Here's why it was in the middle of the fairway.

If you’re standing on the side of the ‘G’, you’re standing on the side of the original golf course. Even though it zapped his drive some yardage, he found the fairway and was able to get up and down up by the 5th green for a birdie. Local caddies will tell you about a practice round of Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell and Henrik Stenson during the 2010 Open, in which all three players hit the stone in the 5th fairway on consecutive swings. It clanked off a dark green thing in the middle of the fairway. They marked the edge of the original property of the course. The green thing is merely a plastic lid covered in the type of artificial turf that you see on indoor putting greens and practice ranges.

Thomas Bjorn says the man from Northern Ireland inspires the field as he goes for glory at St Andrew's.

In the professional game, we tend to think of it just for The Open. That’s what we should remember at the 150th Open.” Just take it in and realise how privileged you are to be in this position. It allowed me to become the player I did and so many others, too. As a kid, the R&A were behind so many things. Bjorn is here working for TV and said: “As a player, you determine your favourite events. You shouldn’t be running around thinking: Oh this is St Andrews and losing your focus, but you can have your moments. “Even the other players get excited and we don’t really get excited about much! You couldn’t say what the exact reason is why he has that magnetism and generates those feelings, but he does.” The Dane believes even McIlroy’s rivals are inspired when he’s on it as he brings a vibrancy and spark. Bjorn said: “I think he understands that an Open championship at St Andrews is just unique. Bjorn believes Rory can be the story with time running out for the Northern Irishman to achieve the Holy Grail of lifting a Claret Jug at St Andrews.

RORY MCILROY is aiming to win golf's 150th Open Championship at St Andrews this weekend.And William Hill are offering brand new customers colossal odd.

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Rory McIlroy is looking to win The Open for a second time this weekend, eight years after his last major triumph as he triumphed at the Royal Liverpool Golf ...

They opted to avoid such publicity by controversially declining to invite Norman, while Phil Mickelson was also not in attendance. When McIlroy won The Open, his youthful exuberance perhaps shone through a little too much. It was McIlroy’s third major title having won the US Open in 2011 and the PGA Championship in 2012.

American Cameron Young led the way amid predicted low scoring on the first day of the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews but favourite Rory McIlroy was ...

Ever the showman Poulter milked the applause, standing with his hand up to his forehead peering into the distance in the direction of where his ball had disappeared into the hole. LIV Golf rebel Ian Poulter turned jeers into cheers as, having been booed by some fans on the first tee for his involvement in the Saudi-backed breakaway series, he was playing to the galleries by the par-four ninth hole when he holed a massive 160-foot putt for the tournament’s first eagle. He then reeled off three successive birdies from the fifth, where he picked up a shot despite his drive losing some yardage after hitting a stone marker in the middle of the fairway which designates the original boundary of the course.

Rory McIlroy may well be counting his blessings during his opening round at The Open after escaping an unfortunate situation from his tee shot on the ...

Fortunately for McIlroy, his ball only ricocheted off the top of the ancient stone and still ended up in the fairway. Hole five is the first of the par fives on the Old Course and avoiding trouble off the tee presents a good scoring opportunity. McIlroy got his Open Championship underway in the morning, playing alongside defending champion Collin Morikawa and the in-form Xander Schauffele.

Rory McIlroy is firmly in contention to end his long Major drought after a superb six-under opening round, as America's Cameron Young set the early pace at ...

There were more favourable responses to Phil Mickelson, the early LIV posterboy, and even perennial pantomime villain Patrick Reed, who donned an LIV Golf cap, having worn an outfit splattered with the tour’s logos during yesterday’s practice round. Poulter is one of 24 rebels signed up to the Saudi-bankrolled circuit in the field for final Major of the year and was the first of them to get his opening round underway on the Old Course. “Very solid.

A PGA Tour employee suffered a fractured hand after taking a hit off an errant drive from Rory McIlroy.

I did not heed the warning," Kane wrote. PGA Tour social media employee Charlie Kane posted some aftermath photos of his hand that took a direct hit from McIlroy's drive. "Fractured hand after Rory McIlroy’s drive landed on my knuckle.

Australian Cameron Smith, who won the Players Championship in March, is at five under, while Lee Westwood and English amateur Barclay Brown are in a group on ...

I'll leave it to the clever people to figure stuff out, and I'll just play golf." Both overcame nervy openings though, with the former recovering from a double bogey on the par-four second to hole seven birdies in his 68. "I was unbelievably nervous at the start. I have not heard one heckle." That's 30 years of hurt for those south of the border. I managed to keep it relatively stress free.

Rory McIlroy is just two shots off the clubhouse lead following his first round at the Open Championship at St Andrews following a sensational round of 66.

“So when we came out to hit our first tee shots with the R&A building right there, there were a bunch of R&A members presumably watching. That’s really my first memory of here.” I think that’s something you have to do, if I remember correctly. “I came with my parents in 2010 so I would have been 13,” Young said. We played here, the New, the Old. We played Kingsbarns, Carnoustie, Gullane, Crail; I’m probably missing one or two. “Started off tremendously with a bonus on the first, birdied the par five (fifth), a couple of the short par fours and then on the back nine you pick off a couple on the 14th and 18th.

Rory McIlroy fractured a fans had after his errant tee-shot hit the spectators left hand on day one of The Open Championship at St Andrews.

One of his few wild tee shots proved to be quite costly for Charlie Kane, who suffered a fractured hand after a McIlroy bomb collided with Kane's knuckle. Charlie returned to St Andrews a little later on in the day and at least appeared to be in good spirits after suffering his unfortunate injury. Rory McIlroy fractured a fans had after his errant tee-shot hit the spectators left hand on day one of The Open Championship at St Andrews.

In the first round of the 2010 Open Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews, McIlroy shot 9-under 63, matching the lowest score ever in a single round at ...

Now, he has a chance to let his game do the rest of the talking. McIlroy was the defending Open champion the last time the tournament was played at St. Andrews in 2015. He was eighth at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills after shooting 65 in the first round; he shot 67 in the opening round and tied for fifth at the U.S. Open. It's one of the highest achievements that you can have in golf." At the U.S. Open in June, McIlroy said he was taking a hard line against LIV Golf because "it's the right thing to do." "I don't know if a golfer's career isn't complete if you don't, but I think it's the holy grail of our sport," McIlroy said. He has been able to block out the noise when it mattered most. He finished second at the Masters and shot 8-under 64 in the final round. "I believe that my best days are still ahead of me, and I think theirs are too," McIlroy said before the U.S. Open. "So that's where it feels like you're taking the easy way out. McIlroy, 33, has won twice on tour -- the CJ Cup at Summit in October and the RBC Canadian Open in June -- to climb to No. 2 in the world. While McIlroy seemed to understand why aging players, including his friends and former Ryder Cup teammates Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood, left the tour to accept multimillion-dollar signing bonuses from LIV Golf, he has been more critical of younger players who have jumped. McIlroy shot 8-over 80 in windy conditions the next day and ultimately tied for third, but those remarkable opening 18 holes were the beginning of his stardom.

In the first round of the 2010 Open Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews, McIlroy shot 9-under 63, matching the lowest score ever in a single round at ...

Now, he has a chance to let his game do the rest of the talking. McIlroy was the defending Open champion the last time the tournament was played at St. Andrews in 2015. He was eighth at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills after shooting 65 in the first round; he shot 67 in the opening round and tied for fifth at the U.S. Open. It's one of the highest achievements that you can have in golf." At the U.S. Open in June, McIlroy said he was taking a hard line against LIV Golf because "it's the right thing to do." "I don't know if a golfer's career isn't complete if you don't, but I think it's the holy grail of our sport," McIlroy said. He has been able to block out the noise when it mattered most. He finished second at the Masters and shot 8-under 64 in the final round. "I believe that my best days are still ahead of me, and I think theirs are too," McIlroy said before the U.S. Open. "So that's where it feels like you're taking the easy way out. McIlroy, 33, has won twice on tour -- the CJ Cup at Summit in October and the RBC Canadian Open in June -- to climb to No. 2 in the world. While McIlroy seemed to understand why aging players, including his friends and former Ryder Cup teammates Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood, left the tour to accept multimillion-dollar signing bonuses from LIV Golf, he has been more critical of younger players who have jumped. McIlroy shot 8-over 80 in windy conditions the next day and ultimately tied for third, but those remarkable opening 18 holes were the beginning of his stardom.

Rory McIlroy makes the game look easy when he's in the mood. If it hadn't been for the grandstands, and the tens of thousands of fans, you'd never have ...

McIlroy has subscribed to a lot of different theories in the eight years since he won his last major, has tried muscling up, tinkering with his swing, taken on a couple of different gurus, even delved into self-help. At the 614-yard 14th, he unleashed such a mighty drive that he was able to play a wedge into the green. At the 17th there was another of those pivotal little moments, when he found himself 85 yards out but with such a tricky lie that he was worried he was going to thin the ball into downtown St Andrews. “I chipped a little gap wedge down there and I pulled it. He made his one bad mistake at the 13th, when he tried to get too cute with a chip from behind a greenside bunker and whizzed the ball a good 60ft beyond the hole, but he corrected it by rolling the putt right up to the cup for a tap-in bogey. He had made his first of the day on the opening hole, with a 30ft putt that set his morning up like ham and eggs in bed. It meant players spent a lot of time leaning on their clubs in between using them and had to snap in and out of focus when they finally stepped up to address the situation they had been stewing on for the last few minutes.

Once again, Rory McIlroy is gotten off to a great start at a major championship. What does it mean for his chances at the Open Championship?

“Everything feels just sort of nice and quiet, which is a nice way to be.” A marshal behind that tee, who has watched champions stroll through for the last four Opens at the Old Course, discussed the pandemonium that could take place if McIlroy were to actually get it done this week. He’s wowed us all over, really, most recently at the Canadian Open in June. He’s even wowed us at major championships this season, at Augusta National in April with a final round that Collin Morikawa called “near flawless” when he was reminded of it Thursday. McIlroy started hot at the PGA Championship a month later, leading after Day 1. And McIlroy even admitted it in the moments that followed, “fiddly hasn’t really been my forte over the years.” The fans who piled into the triple-decker hospitality suite on the 14th were rather reserved Thursday afternoon, milling about, not all dialed in to the golf. ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Rory McIlroy, eloquent man of many words, was struggling to describe this version of the Open Championship. Then he showed off that vocabulary like only he can, settling on “fiddliest.” This is the fiddliest Open he’s ever played. Or, borrowing from Merriam and Webster, neither of which were golfers, this is the Open that has required the most attention to detail. Everything feels like it’s in good shape,” he said. The fairways are more firm than the greens, and the greens are firming up, too. Players and commentators are calling it one of the firmest tournament setups they’ve ever seen. The lies are as tight as he’s ever seen in St. Andrews. He’s wowed the golf world here before, opening with a 63 in 2010, only to implode with 80 strokes in his second round.

For the third consecutive major this summer, the Ulsterman opened with a low round. But so far at St. Andrews, plenty of players are attacking par.

With just one round in the books, McIlroy will need to continue his good play with scoring extremely low. With one win in 2022 at the RBC Canadian Open, his record has been impressive since finishing second at the Masters after a final-round 64. “I only had 85 yards to the front of the green on 17, and I knew 4 was going to be a good score,” McIlroy said. “I came in here playing well, and I've played this golf course well over the years,” McIlroy said. “I birdied the holes that are birdie-able,” McIlroy said. “And I made pars at the holes where you're sort of looking to make a par and move to the next tee.

Rory McIlroy once again got off to a hot start in a major. Can he sustain it?

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Rory McIlroy continued to eradicate his first-round hoodoo in majors after making a strong start to his bid for a fifth major title at The 150th Open.

"I think we worked our way around the golf course really well," Young said. That's really all I can control." It might change how I feel on the first tee a little bit tomorrow, but I'll forget about it very quickly. Tomorrow's an important run, just to go out and back up what I've done today." "I was maybe trying to be a little bit too cute with the second shot on 13, but apart from that, missed it in the right areas, areas where you can get it up-and-down from. "I think that's important to do.

The four-time major winner lies just two shots off clubhouse leader Cameron Young at St Andrews.

I think that’s important to do,” he said. That’s really my first memory of here.” I did everything that you’re supposed to do around St Andrews. “Yeah, fantastic start,” McIlroy said. McIlroy is well aware that he has failed to turn those good starts into overdue wins, a third round of 74 doing the damage in the US PGA and a 73 at the same stage of the US Open proving equally costly. An opening 73 in April’s Masters meant McIlroy had been a combined 35 over par in the first round of majors since last winning one in the 2014 US PGA, but since then he has started with a 65 in the US PGA, a 67 in the US Open and Thursday’s 66.

Northern Irishman makes fine start to bid for second Claret Jug.

If he continues to nonchalantly shrug off the pressure, a second Claret Jug could be coming his way. An iron was enough to reach the green of the 356-yard hole before two-putting to post a six-under-par 66. This is a player at the peak of his powers right now. Par followed before he took out his driver for the very reachable 9th. “They all want him to win it,” a marshal exclaimed as McIlroy stepped onto the 7th tee to another chorus of cheers. If he was feeling the pressure, though, it certainly did not show.