SOUTHPORT, England — There were no “I’m so bad at golf” exclamations from Rory McIlroy this time.
The puzzled looks, shakes of the head and sagging shoulders said it all.
McIlroy was just 10 holes into his bid to win the British Open for the first time since 2014 and he was veering dangerously close to playing himself out of title contention.
Missing one putt from four feet wasn’t necessarily unusual. But doing it three times? In the space of four holes?
That trio of bewildering close-range mishaps - on Nos. 7, 8 and 10 - came either side of McIlroy driving the green to make birdie on the 415-yard No. 9. Go figure.
And it pretty much summed up the world No. 2’s wild late-afternoon ride in a 2-over 72 that included six bogeys and left him seven shots off the first-round lead, held surprisingly by 115th-ranked Jackson Suber on Thursday.
McIlroy arrived at the Open after a seventh-place finish at the Scottish Open, where he went viral by shouting “I’m so bad at golf” following a poor approach shot late in his final round.
The sixth player - and only European - to complete the career Grand Slam rarely hides his emotions and he cut a frustrated figure for most of his round Thursday, not least when he chipped through the green and into a bunker at the par-5 No. 17.
McIlroy managed to splash out to 8 feet while having one knee on the ground but a weakly struck par putt led to another dropped shot.
Making birdie at the tough last hole after a brilliant approach to 5 feet sparked shouts of “Rory, Rory” from spectators in the grandstands and at least gave him something to cling to.
He barely raised a smile, though, after plucking the ball out of the cup. One stat spoke volumes: he ranked 148th in putting in the 156-man field.
McIlroy is playing a reduced schedule in 2026 and this is just his sixth event since winning the Masters for the second straight year, which moved his total of major titles to six.
A win this week would tie him with Harry Vardon as the European player with most majors in men’s golf.
He already has plenty of work to do.
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