Having not won a major title for 8 years, Rory McIlroy is still considered the most promising candidate for the 2022 Open Championship. On the first day of competition, the Northern Irish golfer quickly scored his best opening point at the Open since 2010.
McIlroy tee-off in mid-morning Thursday (local time) at St Andrews in relatively pleasant conditions, and in just a few minutes issued a weighty message. Right at the first hole, hitting a 55-foot putt (over 16m) gave him a Birdie.
McIlroy, the Open champion in 2014, went through the next 3 holes with a par score, before having 3 consecutive Birdiedie to get -4 strokes. Although he was stopped by a bogey in hole 13, 2 more Birdiedie before and after brought him a score of -5.
The 32-year-old golfer added Birdiedie in the 18th hole but made two excellent saves in the 16th and 17th holes to score an equalizer, protecting his own goal of -6 when the first day of competition ended.
McIlroy, a former world No. 1, has played well in major tournaments this year. He finished second in the Masters, eighth in the PGA Championship and fifth in the US Open last month. His most recent win came a week ago, at Brookline, when he dominated the Canada Open.
However, the world No. 2 golfer was still not the best player on the opening day. He is still two strokes behind Cameron Young, the American golfer who is competing for the first time at the British Open. It only took 64 sticks to complete 18 holes, the world-class 32nd golfer had 8 Birdie, and did not once land bogey to lead with -8 sticks. With 64 sticks, the 25-year-old is only two strokes behind the previous record that McIlroy had in the Open Open openings at Old Course. With the third best results of the day, Cameron Smith and Robert Dinwiddie. The two British and Australian golfers lost 67 clubs to score -5. 8 golfers - including Dustin Johnson, Kurrt Kitayama, Scottie Scheffler, ended the day with 4 goals.
Among the big names, legend Tiger Woods has also received great attention, as he is one of two people who have won The Open twice in St Andrews. However, the golfer who won major titles 15 times had a disappointing start. Right at the first hole, the "super tigers" got into a double-bogey and repeated this situation at hole number 7.
The American golfer, who returned to competition last April after recovering from a serious car accident, took him six hours and eight minutes to complete his 18-hole course, with five more bogey and just three Birdie. With a score of +6 strokes on the first day, Woods ranked 148 out of 156 golfers competing and will need a miracle to qualify.
Jon Rahm, Will Zalatori (+1), collin Morikawa, Phil Mickelson, Mathew Fitzpatrick (Even-par) also had a really bad opening day when no one had the negative stick.
