Amgen Irish Open Round 1 Leaderboard: Rory McIlroy five shots behind at The K Club

Former Ryder Cup star Thorbjorn Olesen shares the first-round lead at the Amgen Irish Open as home favourite Rory McIlroy rued a poor finish to his first round at The K Club.

Olesen, who played with McIlroy in Europe’s winning team in Paris in 2018, recovered from an early double-bogey with eight birdies in a superb 66 that matched the clubhouse mark set by Spaniard Nacho Elvira, who birdied four of his last six holes and kept a clean card for the day.

Romain Langasque, winner of The Amateur Championship 10 years ago, made it a three-way tie at the top, but an “agitated” McIlroy was unable to build on a bright start after his grouping were put on the clock.

Although he made five birdies, he littered his card with four bogeys including two in his last three holes, signing for a 71 shortly before play was suspended due to lightning in the area.

The world No 2, who won his only Irish Open title at the same venue in 2016, then aired his frustration with officials as he described how his group were constantly disrupted by large galleries and cameramen jostling for position.

"We got put on the clock pretty early, and then we were put on the clock for the last three holes to try to make time up," he said. "I just felt because it's happened to me quite a lot before in these big groups.

“I felt like I just let it agitate me a little bit. It’s hard because you feel a bit rushed, you're playing some tough holes and we obviously, our group, has to deal with a lot more than any other group on the course."

Shane Lowry enjoyed a better finish as he fired a solid 3-under 69, with Ryder Cup team-mate Tyrrell Hatton a shot further back, while Brooks Koepka is alongside McIlroy on 1-under par.

"Average start, good finish," was Lowry's blunt assessment of his opener. "I was 1-over through eight holes, but felt like I hit the ball well. One sloppy three-putt and a sloppy bogey and didn't really hole much.

"Then I birdied the 18th (his 9th) and played lovely coming in and gave myself a few chances. Holed a nice putt on the 8th and then was nice to birdie the last. So it was a nice day. Nice way to start the week."

Seven players were still on the course when play was suspended due to darkness, with Zander Lombard just one shot behind the leaders and sitting pretty in the middle of the ninth fairway when the klaxons sounded.