The white noise is still infiltrating Rory McIlroy’s mental armour, although – for the most part – the world number three managed to keep his mind on that task at hand in opening the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club with a fine six-under-par 64 that left him three shots adrift of first-round leader Ben An.
As the Northern Irishman returned to competition following a break of two weeks, and a week ahead o the 151st Open at Hoylake, his thoughts were asked of the US senate hearings relating to the PGA Tour’s merger with LIV which had indicated one of the suggestions was that he would head a team in the Saudi-funded start-up.
“If LIV Golf was the last place to play golf on earth I would retire. That’s how I feel about it,” said McIlroy, leaving little doubt about where he stands on the matter.
“I’m apathetic to the noise around it and as long as the tournaments that I play keep on existing I’ll be very happy to play them and be a professional golfer and try to get a little close every day to trying to master my craft. The thing that I’ve realised is, no mater what I do or say or try to show leadership, I’m going to be just fine ... as long as I get to play the golf I’ve known for the last 15 years of my career, I’ll be happy.”
On a mainly benign day on the famed golfing terrain on the East Lothian seaboard, McIlroy did indeed manage to stick to his primary task of navigating a route from tee to green and letting the putter do its work, with a number of long birdie putts fuelling a sense of wellbeing with the flat stick. “I got my eye in early, it was nice to see,” he said of his comfort level on the greens.
A round of 64 – highlighted by an eagle on the par-five third, his 12th hole of the round, to go with six birdies and two bogeys – put McIlroy into a share of third place, three behind An, with American Davis Riley two shots behind the South Korean.
Understandably, next week’s Open at Hoylake is on his mind, but McIlroy has focused on consolidating his FedEx Cup and DP World Tour rankings in the co-sanctioned event at The Renaissance: “I think playing links golf this week definitely just helps me get acclimatised to conditions and the grass type and everything else. There’s a lot of golf to be played before going down to Liverpool, and I want to play well the next three days.”
Pádraig Harrington again demonstrated his liking for links with a fine opening round 67, but Tom McKibbin – who got off to a strong start, three-under through six holes – suffered two double-bogeys on his homeward run to sign for a level-par 70 and Shane Lowry opened with a disappointing 71.
Séamus Power was forced to withdraw after nine holes of his opening round, citing a hip injury as the reason. The Waterford man will get medical treatment over the coming days in the hope he can play in next week’s final Major of the season.
On the LPGA Tour, Kildare woman Lauren Walsh made her professional debut in the Dana Open in Ohio where the recent graduate of Wake Forest started her new career with an opening round of two-over-par 73, nine strokes behind clubhouse leader Linn Grant of Sweden.
Walsh started her round with 12 successive pars before picking up her only birdie on the fourth, her 13th hole, only to suffer three bogeys on the run-up.
Stephanie Meadow also opened with a 73, with the two Irishwomen facing a battle to survive the midway cut.
