Rory McIlroy battled his way through the back nine at Royal St. George's to shoot level-par in the first round of the Open Championship.
It looked as though it could be a great day for the Northern Irishman from the way he started, with a great birdie on the 1st hole and almost another one on the 2nd hole.
But things took a turn for the worst as he made three consecutive birdies on holes 5, 6 and 7 and it looked as though the old problems were re-emerging for McIlroy.
The 2014 Open champion made another bogey at the long par-3 11th hole, but he fought back with birdies at the 14th and 18th holes to finish on level-par.
It's not been Rory's finest day.
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 15, 2021
But this is just brilliant!
Watch his final holes here: https://t.co/nF1CsC3YNF#TheOpen pic.twitter.com/CFe5YZZ35K
His birdie putt on the 18th hole could be vital for his confidence heading into the second round, as it was important for McIlroy to finish on a positive note.
His playing partner and Ryder Cup opponent Patrick Reed finished on 2-over-par, while Australian Cameron Smith finished with a 1-under-par 69.
McIlroy is six shots adrift of the leader Louis Oosthuizen, who once again finds himself at the top of a major leaderboard on 6-under-par.
The 2010 Open champion made six birdies on a bogey-free card to finish with a 64, which is one shot ahead of Jordan Spieth and Brian Harman.
After a bogey on the tough par-3 3rd hole, Spieth bounced back with four consecutive birdies from hole 5 to hole 8 to play the front nine in 3-under-par.
The 2017 Open champion then added further birdies at the 15th and 16th holes to finish with a score of 5-under-par to finish one shot behind Oosthuizen.
