McIlroy makes honest admission after Australian | Golf News

Rory McIlroy endured a difficult opening spherical at the Australian Open on Thursday, carding a 72 to end one over par, and confessed he was struggling to adapt to the situations.

McIlroy headlines a star-studded area at the Royal Melbourne Club this week, alongside LIV Golf’s Cameron Smith and Caleb Surratt, Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee competing in the event.

At his pre-tournament press convention, the Northern Irishman revealed his affection for the course – though he famous it wasn’t his top decide in Australia. The Grand Slam champion has also been nominated for a prestigious award, alongside Scottie Scheffler.

He also acknowledged it might doubtless take “a little bit of time to figure out” the course, a prediction that proved correct on Thursday.

McIlroy’s opening spherical featured six bogeys and 5 birdies, and he later admitted the wind caught him off guard on a number of events.

He said: “It was a rollercoaster day, it felt like every time I made a birdie or two, I’d make a bogey or two, it was just one of those days. It felt like ‘okay what side of par am I going to end on? Under or over?’ I ended over but it wasn’t terrible.

“I hit it in a couple of unhealthy spots, a couple of early three putts as nicely. It was tough situations, it isn’t like anybody’s actually getting away on the market, so I restricted the injury and hopefully the situations are a bit better tomorrow.

“I think the tricky thing with this north wind is there’s a lot of heavy crosswinds, and depending on what you want to do with your shot, that crosswind can help it or hurt it. Depending on whether you want to ride the wind or fight it a touch.

“Because the fairways are so extensive, the angles then grow to be where ‘okay if I used to be in the center of the green the wind could be serving to this shot, but I’m on the left aspect of the green so it is really going to damage it.

“I got caught out a couple of times out there today. You just have to keep the ball down.

“The good factor is that a lot of instances you’ll be able to run the ball up on a couple of these greens, that makes it play a little bit simpler in the wind. You’ve just acquired to control your trajectory and have a good really feel for it.”