There was plenty of spectator support, an abundance of uncharacteristic October sunshine and a golf course where he produced a second in the 2018 Open Championship but then there was little golfing fireworks from World No. 3 Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy posted four birdies and also dropped a shot in the definition of a no-frills round and given the fact that so many players went low, and really low.
Seventy-two players posted a score lower than McIlroy’s three-under 69 headed by South African Darren Fichardt with two eagles and nine birdies in a blistering 11-under-par 61 on the Kingsbarns Links course.
Somewhat disappointingly for Fichardt he also posted two bogeys to fall shots shy of becoming just a second DP World Tour player to break 60 in Tour compition.
McIlroy was accompanied by his father, Gerry who turns 65 on Saturday and with the McIlroy’s looking to celebrate success in annual team event in Scotland.
MISSES @carnoustiegolf BIRDIE BOAT …
With @McIlroyRory posting opening no-frills 6⃣9⃣ to be trailing 8⃣ shots off the pace in some of the best conditions for some time #dunhilllinks
Read: https://t.co/JW5RBPiv6x
✅ @TOURMISS pic.twitter.com/toQNIWC4Gl
— Golf & Science News (@TOURMISS) October 3, 2024
However, while McIlroy labelled his effort ‘okay’ it’s going to now require something really low at Kingsbarns in round two for McIlroy to make it a maiden victory walk up the famed 18th on the Old Course late on Sunday,
“Yeah, it was okay”, when McIlroy was asked of his round.
!A bit slow to get out of the blocks. I actually played very nice on our front nine, which is the back nine. Missed a lot of opportunities, and then maybe a little scrappier on the back. But yeah, overall, it was a perfect day to play Carnoustie. I probably didn’t quite take advantage of the conditions the way that I wanted to or should have but yeah, a solid round and something to try to build upon tomorrow at Kingsbarns”.
Once again, McIlroy has teamed with his father and the pair again clearly enjoyed the pairing though the Seminole Club member and his four-time major winning son share a distant 125th place at three-under in the team competition,
“He didn’t play very well at all. He bettered me by two, which was nice, but there’s definitely room for improvement there for both of the McIlroys”, said McIlroy of his father.
“Lovely to be out here with him. We’ve done this a few time before. It’s his 65th birthday on Saturday. So to be able to stroll around the Old Course with him on the 65th is going to be a pretty cool occasion. Delighted to be out here with him, and hopefully we can make a few more birdies tomorrow.
“So it’s nice to get Carnoustie out of the way. It’s a course whereas I said, we had perfect conditions for it. So I feel like I could have taken advantage of it a bit more. But yeah, Kingsbarns, a course here, if you do get decent conditions, obviously historically, there’s been a lot of low scoring. So you know, try to get out there tomorrow and shoot a low one and get myself into the tournament”.