Home favourite Rory McIlroy rewards fans with strong start at Royal Portrush

Rory McIlroy put on a show for the thousands of fans who cheered his every move at his home Open at Royal Portrush as the Masters champion moved himself into contention on the first day.

Golf’s newest member of the elite career Grand Slam club was far from his best off the tee but made up for it on the greens, three birdies on his front nine leaving him just two shots off the lead.

While there was no repeat of his out-of-bounds quadruple-bogey eight at the first when the major made its long-awaited return to the Dunluce Links in 2019, McIlroy still missed the fairway and bogeyed.

Making it look easy.

Rory almost holes out for an eagle. pic.twitter.com/GXGqoxB6vU

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 17, 2025

But with galleries 10-deep in places craning their necks to see their hero from an hour down the road in Holywood, McIlroy kicked into gear, holing from 15 feet at the par-five second and a 27-footer up the slope for birdie at the driveable par-four fifth.

After leaving another birdie attempt inches short at the next, he made life easier for himself at the 607-yard seventh. Having found rough on both sides of the fairway, he hit a brilliant approach to three feet to pick up another shot.

A seven-foot birdie opportunity glided by the hole at the eighth, where he managed to find his first fairway, and he two-putted from 33 feet to turn in 34.

That put him within touching distance of Ryder Cup team-mate Matt Fitzpatrick, who carded the lowest opening round of his major career with a four-under 67. He was in the clubhouse alongside world number 354 Jacob Skov Olesen and China’s Li Haotong, with South Africa’s Chris Bezuidenhout and American Lucas Glover still out on the course.

Fitzpatrick, a former US Open champion, continued his