U.S. Open: Spectator picks up Rory McIlroy's golf ball at Shinnecock Hills

Rory McIlroy made a solid start in his bid to win a first U.S. Open title in 15 years, carding an entertaining one-under 69 at Shinnecock Hills that included a spectator picking up his ball.

After a two-hour weather delay due to fog at the Long Island layout, McIlroy got off to the best possible start with two birdies in his first three holes. 

The Northern Irishman started on the back nine and hit the turn in level par after dropping shots at the 13th and 16th. 

McIlroy put a circle on his scorecard at the fourth and found buried an 11-foot eagle putt at the fifth after demolishing the 597-yard par-five with a 396-yard drive and a pitching wedge. 

His opening round also saw a spectator pick up his golf ball after he hit a loose shot at the fourth came that came to rest on a patch of turf after taking a heavy bounce on the cart path. 

McIlroy was able to take a drop but couldn't save par. Two more bogeys on the eighth and ninth likely infuriated McIlroy but it was nonetheless a good day's work. 

"I think with the conditions today, anything under par or anything around even par is a good score," he told reporters.  

"It was a day to really just keep yourself in the tournament and not shoot yourself out of it, which is exactly what I did eight years ago here.

"i went out with the mindset that pars were going to be good, and if you could pick up a couple of birdies here and there, that's always a bonus. 

"But really just minimizing the mistakes. I did that for the most part today."

He added: "It's so tough. It's so difficult. I didn't feel like I hit two bad iron shots on the last two holes and put myself in pretty difficult spots and wasn't able to get it up-and-down, but overall a really good day."

Tournament organisers were heavily criticised the last time the U.S. Open was staged here in 2018. 

McIlroy shot an 80 in the second round to miss the cut by a country mile and several players in the field argued that conditions went from difficult to completely unfair. 

The USGA are syringing the greens over the first two days of the third men's major of the year and have vowed to make the 126th edition of the major a firm and fair test. 

"The greens are pretty slow and quite receptive," said McIlroy. "I think they need to be at this point. It's a challenging golf course already, and you put 30-mile-an-hour winds on top of it, it tests the best players in the world pretty well.

"I think they were prudent with the course setup. I think especially with starting with 156 the first two days, you just want to get everyone around without too much issue. They've set the course up for that, at least today."

It has taken McIlroy a long time to get comfortable at the US Open. 

He missed the cut in 2016, 2017 and 208 but since then has racked up six top 10 finishes, including two runner-up performances at Los Angeles Country Club and Pinehurst No2. 

"I think the big thing was I needed to change my mindset," McIlroy said. "I've told this story before, but I played those two days in 2018, and then I got to the Travelers the next week. 

"I remember like feeling so much in my comfort zone going to TPC River Highlands and thinking to myself, I've got this backwards. 

"I should be in my comfort zone at Shinnecock and not here.

"So it was really just effort really . It hasn't looked as if I've went and done a rebuild of my game, but it's felt like it in terms of the way I approach the game and the value I place on certain shots and certain skills within the game.

"I remember flying back from Dubai at the end of 2018, and I would keep, like, a journal or a diary. 

"I wrote in it that from 2019 going forward, I'm going to build my game to compete at the major championships and excel at the toughest tests that we have.

"Again, working on the things that you need to do well to excel at these, which is flighting the ball, hitting your numbers, wedge play, short game, putting, which is all the stuff that I feel like I've improved over the last few years."