McIlroy off to flying start as records go tumbling
RORY MCILROY rewrote the record books with a scintillating opening round in the Open Championship at St Andrews yesterday and then admitted: “the course was there to be taken apart”.
The 21-year-old fired seven birdies and an eagle at the par-four ninth for a flawless 63 – only the second nine-under-par round in Open history.
McIlroy’s was only the 24th round of 63 in Major championship history. He is the youngest player to achieve that feat and the first in the Open since Sir Nick Faldo and the late Payne Stewart 17 years ago.
His round continues his stunning record on the Old Course at the Home of Golf. Starting with two rounds in the amateur Links Trophy and continuing with the Dunhill Links and ending with yesterday, it read a staggering: 69, 69, 67, 68, 67, 68, 65, 69, 63 – a total of 43-under-par.
But it could have been so much better for the Northern Irishman, who fired down a towering six-iron on the grueling 17th to within three feet, only to then miss the putt and the chance to become the first player in Major history to shoot a 62.
“It sort of went through my mind that 62 would have been the lowest – that’s probably why I missed the putt,” McIlroy joked. “It’s amazing, the only thing that came into my head was watching Tiger at the [2007] US PGA in Tulsa and he lipped out for 62.”
McIlroy took full advantage of the benign early conditions of the famous St Andrews links and has now set his sights on a glorious first Major title – just like fellow countryman Graeme McDowell did at the US Open last month.
“I had to take advantage of the conditions – the course was there to be taken apart,”
McIlroy added. “It was a fantastic score. I didn’t get off to a flying start. I was one under through eight holes and then the eagle on nine really sort of turned things around for me and I just got going from there.
“Graeme McDowell winning the US Open has given me belief. If he can win a Major then so can I.”
McIlroy lies two shots clear of South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen at the top of the leaderboard and a three-way tie for third, which includes little-known Englishman Steven Tiley, whose biggest claim to fame in his three-year professional career so far was winning the Egyptian Open eight months ago.
“This is a different league to winning the Egyptian Open,” the 27-year-old said. “As dream starts go, that’s it.”
OPEN | LEADERBOARD
-9 Rory McIlroy (NI)
-7 Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)
-6 John?Daly (USA)
Andrew Coltart (Sco)
Steven Tiley (Eng)
Bradley Dredge (Wal)
Peter Hanson (Swe)