NEWCASTLE, Northern Ireland — Rory McIlroy birdied his final three holes to shoot 3-under 68 and sit two strokes off the first-round lead at the Irish Open on Thursday.
The No. 3-ranked McIlroy is attempting to win his home tournament for the second time — eight years after the first — and is playing at Royal County Down Golf Club, a course that is a short drive from his childhood home of Holywood in Northern Ireland and where he used to play with his friends.
“It’s a major championship-caliber golf course,” McIlroy said. “It’s just unfortunate that we don’t have the infrastructure around the golf course to host something like an Open because if we did, it definitely would be able to host an Open Championship.”
Tough winds and some rain made for difficult conditions and No. 291-ranked Todd Clements of England dealt with it the best, making five birdies and a 15-footer for eagle at the 18th — his ninth hole — for a 66 and a one-stroke lead.
“I said to my caddie walking off, ‘That’s one of the best rounds I’ve played in my life,” Clements said. ”It’s a hard course and yeah, delighted how it panned out.”
Sami Valimaki of Finland and Alejandro Del Rey of Spain were in a tie for second after 67s. McIlroy was in a five-man group a further stroke back — but only after a strong finish, just as his round looked like derailing after bogeys at Nos. 14 and 15 dropped him to level par.
A tap-in for birdie at the drivable 16th was followed by a 12-footer for birdie at the 17th. He reached the green in two at the par-15 18th and two-putted from 50 feet for three in a row.
“I felt like I controlled my ball flight well,” McIlroy said. “I’ve been working a little bit on my swing these last couple of weeks. I’ve probably struggled a lot in left-to-right winds this year, so to sort of control my ball flight a bit and test it out there today was good to see that, you know, I was able to do it when I needed to.”
McIlroy, who openly admits to struggling when playing in front of expectant home crowds, is back in Europe after the end of the PGA Tour season. So is Robert MacIntyre, the No. 16-ranked Scot who is looking to become the first player ever to win the Scottish and Irish Opens in the same season.
MacIntyre opened with an even-par 71 while fellow Ryder Cup players Shane Lowry and Nicolai Hojgaard both shot 72.