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.

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.

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.

American Cameron Young set an imposing clubhouse target on day one of the 150th Open Championship as Rory McIlroy's delayed return to St Andrews proved well ...

“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. “On the 4th hole yesterday during my practice round, I made a swing with my driver and started to feel pain in my lower back,” Rose wrote on Twitter. We played here, the New, the Old. We played Kingsbarns, Carnoustie, Gullane, Crail; I’m probably missing one or two.

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.

As far as fiddly golf courses go, the Old Course on Thursday was the fiddliest Rory McIlroy has ever played. While Northern Irishman left many in his press ...

“I think I've played with a little more freedom because I'm in more control of my swing and my game,” he stated. But again, this golf course isn't going to change that much, I don't think, between today and tomorrow in terms of conditions.” “And I think it sort of goes hand in hand. Prior to this year, the four-time major champion had broken 70 in the first round in only five of his previous 26 major championships. He started with a bang, rolling in a 55-foot putt on the first hole for a birdie. McIlroy looked calm and in control as he began and ended his day with birdies, adding five more in between.

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

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ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- After Rory McIlroy made par at the 4th hole Thursday en route to his 66 in the first round of the 2022 Open Championship, ...

The patience has a payoff, though, and it could come come Sunday for Rory because there is no greater reward in golf than winning the most consequential Open at the Home of Golf. It's a long week, and McIlroy is laboring to stay in the moment. And three to see if the best player of his generation can resuscitate the green boxes on his major championship Wikipedia page. It's easy to push the future out of your mind when it's way out in the distance. It's much harder when you're three 68s away -- on a golf course you've owned -- from the best win of your career. Waiting, however, might mean they get one of him with the Claret Jug on Sunday instead of him striding home in second place on Thursday. McIlroy hit a mediocre wedge off the thinnest of lies, though, and labored to make 4. At the PGA, he was six strokes worse in Round 2. After six consecutive years of bumpy first-round play, McIlroy has been awesome in three of the first four opening rounds at majors this season. I never got a chance to go to the champions dinner. A commotion stirred behind them as a group of fans yelped about missing out on the only photo they desired: Rory bouncing across the Swilcan Bridge toward whatever the hell the next three days have in store. He hung back with playing partners Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele as a traffic backup more reminiscent of Los Angeles than St. Andrews ensued on the hole ahead.

Rory McIlroy during the first round of the 150th Open Championship in St Andrews, Scotland. Paul Childs/Reuters. CNN —. Rory ...

Looking forward to the next few days." Yet, incredibly, McIlroy's speeding shot was prematurely grounded when it bounced into a stone in the middle of the fairway. "Just what you hope will happen when you're starting off your week. Speaking to reporters after his round, the four-time major champion admitted that while he hadn't noticed the stone's impact on his drive, he had been chatting with his caddie Harry Diamond about the prospect of an unlucky golfer being forced to play a shot from behind one. title, the Northern Irishman made a scintillating start at the Old Course, draining a monster 55-foot putt on the opening hole to spark a roar from the grandstands. Three consecutive pars followed, with the 33-year-old's fine opening looking set to continue with a powerful drive from the fifth tee.

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.